Fear And Famine

In a time of drought and ceaseless civil wars, East Africa's refugee trails all seem to lead to Kenya. The fighting and dying along the country's borders have driven tens of thousands of starving civilians to a desperate march toward Kenya's reception centers and camps. New arrivals -- including skeletal children separated from their parents -- are crowding in at a rate that threatens to overwhelm both local and international relief organizations.

According to U.N. experts, almost 300,000 Somali, Ethiopians, Sudanese and Ugandans have already reached Kenya; that number could double in a few months. One of the worst droughts in modern African history has added to the fear and hunger that warfare began. More than half the refugees are Somali, fleeing westward from continuous battles among their country's clans and subclans. From the north trek thousands of starving Ethiopians, and from the northwest Sudanese are fleeing from Khartoum's national army and the southern rebel forces it is pushing before it.

This crisis is focused in Kenya, but U.N. officials say it should be dealt with on a regional basis. They hope for a plan that would allow relief missions and convoys to move freely across all the borders. To succeed, such a plan would need approval from each of the governments, and the starving thousands may not be able to wait for what would certainly be prolonged negotiations.