Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2009
Sudan is one of the African countries that are most seriously stricken by drought, desertification, and famine. Although accurate assessment of the disaster is yet to be documented, published data indicate that some 40% of the human population have been affected. In the Kordofan region alone, some 2.8 million people were subjected to the famine and half-a-million died. The drought's incidence and effects in western Sudan decreased from the Desert zone southwards across the Sahelian zone to the Sudanian zone.