Researchers believe the drought that struck parts of Northern Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions more, may have been the result of a natural climate cycle. In the past, many scientists thought the drought in the Sahel zone – a band that runs just below the Sahara – was caused by humans overusing natural resources in the region.
But a new study in the journal Science shows that they are a natural part of weather pattern of the area for the last 3,000 years.
If anything the droughts were less severe than those seen historically, with previous periods without rain lasting more than a century.
Catastrophic droughts in Africa are the norm, claim scientists - Telegraph
