[Onthebarricades] GLOBAL UNREST: "Food riots" and protests as food prices rise

[Andy]

NOTE:  The main cause of rising food prices is the conversion of land to 
produce biofuel.  This is partly connected to rising oil prices and partly 
to neoliberal responses to global warming.  Biofuel is also squeezing 
rainforests, natural habitat and indigenous peoples in countries such as 
Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil.  The rush to biofuels is failing to 
distinguish varieties which reduce carbon emissions from those which do not, 
or to take into account costs of transporting biofuels.  In principle, the 
rising prices should benefit farmers.  In practice, farmers are also being 
squeezed by the demand for land.  In the world's poorest countries, even 
fairly small price rises can be the difference between life and death.

I haven't been able to find specific stories on all the incidents mentioned 
in the general accounts (unrest in Uzbekistan and protests in Namibia and 
Zimbabwe).  The reference to Senegal and Guinea may be to earlier events 
included in previous roundups.  The reference to Cameroon is presumably to 
the huge revolt recently, Egypt the strike wave, and Mexico the farmers' and 
grain price protests.

*  GLOBAL:  "Food riots" are the new face of hunger
*  MOROCCO:  Unrest reverses price rise; several killed in clashes in remote 
area
*  HAITI:  UN base torched in unrest over food prices; Prime Minister forced 
to resign
*  MAURITANIA:  Protesters fight police in revolt over food prices (Nov 07)
*  COTE D'IVOIRE:  Two days of unrest and clashes prompts U-turn on food 
price rises
*  BURKINA FASO:  Unrest shuts down major towns
*  YEMEN:  A week of protests in the south over food prices; military 
repression leaves several dead
*  PAKISTAN:  Unrest over food prices in Peshawar, government sends 
emergency food aid
*  PHILIPPINES:  Protest at National Food Agency over rising global prices
*  CAMBODIA:  Hundreds protest against price rises


Publicly Archived at Global Resistance: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance


http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-09-02.asp

Angry Food Riots Are the New Face of Hunger
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 9, 2008 (ENS) - Warning that spiralling 
food prices are leading to increased poverty and unrest, several senior 
United Nations officials are calling for urgent measures to tackle the 
global crisis, which is causing the most suffering among the world's poor.
The World Food Programme's deputy executive director is warning of a "new 
face of hunger" that will require the combined efforts of governments, the 
private sector, and humanitarian organizations to overcome.
"Food prices are now rising at rates that few of us can ever have seen 
before in our lifetimes," John Powell told the Dubai International 
Humanitarian Aid and Development Conference, DIHAD, a three day event that 
opened Tuesday at the Dubai International Convention Centre.
Powell said he is concerned about the fact that markets are full of food, 
but large numbers of people simply cannot afford to buy.
Last month, the World Food Programme said it is seeking funding to close a 
$500 million gap caused by the global spike in food and fuel prices, which 
have increased by an estimated 55 percent since last June.

DIHAD participants welcome UN official John Holmes to the Dubai 
International Convention Centre. (Photo courtesy DIHAD)
Yesterday, at the same conference, UN Under-Secretary-General for 
Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes warned that rising food prices could spark 
worldwide unrest and threaten political stability.
In the past few weeks, violent protests over rising food prices have 
occurred in a number of countries, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, 
Senegal, Morocco and, most recently, in Haiti, where four people died in 
food riots last week.
The Haitian riots are continuing despite orders to stop from President Rene 
Preval, and 9,000 UN peacekeepers have not been able to end the looting and 
violence over rising food prices.
The world's largest food distribution agency, the World Food Programme has 
called on donors once again to urgently support its operations in Haiti, 
which has been particularly vulnerable to the spike in costs.
So far the agency has only received 13 percent, or $12.4 million, of the $96 
million required to assist 1.7 million people in Haiti, the Western 
Hemisphere's poorest country.

Hungry Haitians set tires ablaze in a riot over rising food prices. April 7, 
2008 (Photo courtesy UN)
As a result, the World Food Programme says it barely has enough funding to 
support operations throughout April.
Holmes, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, discussed the issue of 
high food prices today in meetings with officials in Kuwait, the latest stop 
on his four-nation visit intended to encourage greater partnership with Gulf 
states in international humanitarian efforts.
"I have found a shared concern around the region about the potential effects 
of the current structural shift upwards in basic food prices across the 
world," said Holmes.
"Tackling this global issue is a long-term challenge to the wider 
international system, but meanwhile we need to be aware of the short-term 
humanitarian effects in terms of increased hunger and greater strain on our 
resources in trying to combat this," he said. "This is a huge common problem 
we have to address together."
There are ways to enjoy learning about this overwhelming problem - two games 
through which players can help.
Food Force, the world's first action game about hunger and the importance of 
humanitarian work in Arabic, was unveiled at the Dubai conference on 
Tuesday.
Created by the World Food Programme to raise awareness among students about 
global hunger, players join a virtual team of WFP experts to get food to the 
needy in an emergency situation, a race against time.
The game, which was first introduced in English in 2005, has been played by 
some six million players worldwide. It is available as a free Internet 
download at www.food-force.com/ar, along with information about WFP and its 
work.
Another game puts free rice into the bowls of needy people at: 
http://www.freerice.com/index.php. Free Rice is an Internet vocabulary game 
that donates 20 grains of rice for each word the player gets right in a 
multiple choice format.
The nonprofit FreeRice.com is a sister site of the world poverty site, 
Poverty.com.
Started in October 2007, Free Rice has now donated 25,846,953,850 grains of 
rice, paid for by advertisers on the site. The rice earned by correct 
vocabulary choices is distributed by the World Food Programme.
"World food prices have risen 45 percent in the last nine months and there 
are serious shortages of rice, wheat and maize," Dr. Jacques Diouf said 
today.
Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, Diouf was 
addressing the first Global Agro-Industries Forum in New Delhi, India.
A combination of factors, including reduced production due to climate 
change, historically low levels of stocks, higher consumption of meat and 
dairy products in emerging economies, increased demand for biofuels 
production and the higher cost of energy and transport have led to surges in 
food prices, he said.
Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization Kandeh 
Yumkella, told the New Delhi conference, "Climate change will impose great 
stresses on the world's ability to feed ever growing populations. This 
challenge brings new threats to arable land areas, livestock rearing and 
fisheries through droughts, water shortages and pollution of land, air and 
sea.
"It is, after all, agricultural and livestock production that provide the 
raw materials that are basic to human existence," said Yumkella, "especially 
food."
The United Nations estimates that the cost to end world hunger completely, 
along with diseases related to hunger and poverty, is about $195 billion a 
year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/26/food.unitednations

The impact has been felt around the world. Food riots have broken out in 
Morocco, Yemen, Mexico, Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal and Uzbekistan. Pakistan 
has reintroduced rationing for the first time in two decades. Russia has 
frozen the price of milk, bread, eggs and cooking oil for six months. 
Thailand is also planning a freeze on food staples. After protests around 
Indonesia, Jakarta has increased public food subsidies. India has banned the 
export of rice except the high-quality basmati variety.

http://michaelannland.blogspot.com/2008/03/food-riots-grow-we-can-expect-more.html

Monday, March 31, 2008
Food riots grow; we can expect more
In Cote d'Iviore, 1500 people took to the streets today to protest rising 
food prices. In Egypt last week, two people were killed in a clash over 
bread. 10,000 Indonesians demonstrated outside Jakarta's presidential palace 
earlier this month. Recent food riots have also taken place in Zimbabwe, 
Namibia, Cameroon, Morocco, Burkina Faso, India, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Yemen 
and Italy.

Food prices are increasing everywhere. Soybean prices have doubled in a 
month and gone up 125% in a year. Wheat prices have risen 90% since last 
March, while unseasonable weather in Canada and Australia, two main 
producers, has limited supply. In Asia, the price of rice has almost doubled 
since January, causing India, Cambodia, Vietnam and Egypt to limit or 
completely end exports in an effort to feed their own people. This is bad 
news for the Philippines, which depends on rice from Vietnam to help meet 
its country's food needs.

In Haiti some have returned to making cookies from salt, shortening and 
edible clay-- but even the price of the clay has risen. Food demonstrations 
have taken place in Haiti, Egypt, Zimbabwe, India, Namibia, Mexico, 
Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Yemen and even in Italy. the 
U.N. Food Programme says that as of December, 37 countries faced food 
crises, and 20 had imposed some sort of food-price controls. The U.N. also 
says it has a $500 million shortfall to feed 89 million of the world's 
hungriest people.

Even in the U.S., dairy products are up 15%, fruits and vegetables 10%, and 
cereals and bread is up 8%. The average middle class family would spend $253 
more for the same groceries this year compared to two years ago.. And 28 
million people are expected to receive food stamps this year, the highest 
level since the program was created in 1964.

http://libcom.org/forums/news/moroccan-bread-riots-27092007

Quote:
CASABLANCA, Morocco - Violent protests over the cost of bread prompted the 
Moroccan government to annul a 30 percent price hike linked to soaring 
global grain costs.
Protesters clashed with police, cars were torched and buildings damaged in 
the demonstrations Sunday in Sefrou, 120 miles east of the capital Rabat. 
Some 300 people suffered injuries, Moroccan newspapers reported Tuesday. The 
state news agency said more than 30 people were arrested.
The government held an emergency meeting Monday, and Interior Minister 
Chakib Benmoussa ordered the price hike canceled, the Interior Ministry 
said.
Amid rising world prices for wheat, the government authorized a bread price 
rise of 30 percent on Sept. 10, soon before the start of Ramadan. Moroccan 
consumption of breads and pastries rises sharply during the Muslim holy 
month, as families hold large feasts after sundown to break the all-day 
fast.
The decision prompted widespread complaints from consumers that peaked at 
Sunday's protest, organized by the local branch of the Moroccan Association 
for Human Rights.
The protest degenerated into violence that left schools, stores and 
administrative buildings damaged and several cars burned, the provincial 
governor, Mohamed Allouche, said.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights, a well-established group 
operating since 1979 with branches around the country, has organized several 
sit-ins against food price rises over the past year.
The weekend protests raised the specter of bread riots in 1981 that left 
hundreds dead in Casablanca. Those riots were prompted by the government's 
decision to raise bread prices by 30 percent.
This year, wheat prices have soared worldwide amid rising demand and 
shrinking stocks. One reason is increasing demand for biofuels, which can be 
made from wheat. European consumers have seen prices rise sharply for 
breads, pasta and meat products as a result of rising grain costs.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00EED61F38F936A15752C0A962948260

More Deaths Reported In Morocco Food Riots RABAT, Morocco, Jan. 24 (AP) - 
Several people were killed Monday in a clash between Government forces and 
demonstrators in a northeastern village, local and diplomatic sources said 
today. It was the first reported violence since King Hassan II on Sunday 
suspended plans to increase food prices.

Published: January 25, 1984
The deaths occurred in Berkane, near the Algerian border, the informants 
said, but they did not know how many people had died.
Diplomats estimated Monday that 60 demonstrators in northern Moroccan cities 
died during riots last week over the increase in food prices.
Local sources in Nador, 45 miles west of Berkane, said some shops and 
factories there were closed Monday as workers went on strike to protest the 
methods used to suppress the riots last week. But the sources said the 
strike, called by the leftist revolutionary movement Illal Ammam, or 
Forward, was only partly effective.
An official at Nador City Hall, reached by telephone from Rabat, said, 
''Everything is calm in Nador and slowly returning to normal.'' Nador, on 
the Mediterranean coast, 350 miles northeast of the capital, Rabat, is an 
iron mining and steel producing center of 200,000 inhabitants.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Rabat said today that all of 
northern Morocco had returned to calm.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7331921.stm

Food riots turn deadly in Haiti

At least four people were killed and 20 wounded when demonstrations against 
rising food prices turned into riots in southern Haiti, officials say.
Reports say scores of people went on the rampage in the town of Les Cayes, 
blocking roads, looting shops and shooting at UN peacekeepers.
The UN said its personnel had opened fire at some of the armed protesters.
For two days running, parts of Haiti have been erupting into violence 
triggered by the soaring cost of food.
The prices of rice, beans and fruit have gone up by 50% in the last year.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a report saying 
that the food crisis threatened the Caribbean nation's fragile security.
Government food aid
The demonstrations against the high cost of living began on Thursday in a 
number of towns, but in some areas they turned into riots.
On Friday, thousands took to the streets again, with some blocking roads, 
burning cars and looting shops. A small group of protesters also broke into 
the UN compound in Les Cayes and damaged its gate.
We know that these demonstrations have been infiltrated by individuals 
linked to drug dealers and other smugglers

Jacques Edouard Alexis
Haitian Prime Minister
Some also fired shots at peacekeepers deployed in the town in an attempt to 
maintain public order. The UN troops fired back in response.
The ensuing unrest left three dead in Les Cayes, including one young man who 
demonstrators said was fatally shot in the head by the UN peacekeepers. The 
UN said it was investigating the death.
Haiti's Prime Minister, Jacques Edouard Alexis, condemned the violence, but 
said the mass demonstrations had been manipulated.
"We know that these demonstrations have been infiltrated by individuals 
linked to drug dealers and other smugglers," he said.
Mr Alexis said he had made $10m (£5m) available for schemes to help fight 
the rising cost of food, including food aid and half-price fertiliser. He 
also announced job creation and credit programmes.
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Around 80% of the 
population lives on less than $2 (£1) a day.

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ihMOuft41NmAWqoE4k4p-J6rYLsA

UN base attacked during protest
Apr 3, 2008
Demonstrators angry over Haiti's rising cost of living attacked a United 
Nations peacekeeping base and looted food shops in the south.
About 5,000 people demonstrated in the southern peninsula city of Les Cayes, 
where protesters chanting slogans against President Rene Preval attempted to 
set the UN police base on fire and stole rice from trucks as Haitian police 
stood by helplessly.
Hundreds more demonstrated in the north-western port city of Gonaives. UN 
workers were evacuated to a police base there, though protests in the 
coastal city remained peaceful.
At least one demonstrator was shot in the foot in Les Cayes, but there were 
no reports of serious injuries. Crowds were under control by late in the 
day, said UN police spokesman Fred Blaise.
Though food prices are rising worldwide, they are a particular problem in 
Haiti, where 80% of the population lives on less than £1.05p a day. Rice 
cost 31p at a Port-au-Prince market in January, up 50% from a year before. 
Beans, condensed milk and fruit went up at a similar rate, while spaghetti 
has doubled.
The food unrest threatens the country's fragile security, UN secretary 
general Ban Ki-moon said in a report this week on the 9,000-member 
peacekeeping mission there.
Graffiti declaring: "Down with the expensive life!" has spread throughout 
Port-au-Prince.
Some of the most desperate Haitians depend on a traditional hunger 
palliative of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening to get through the day.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=324529&referrer=RSS

Mauritanian govt says food riots engineered
Nouakchott, Mauritania
09 November 2007 05:25

The government in Mauritania on Friday defended its handling of food riots 
this week, claiming that violent protests in opposition strongholds that 
left one dead were deliberately orchestrated.

"The government regrets the victims, but will remain firm to guarantee the 
security of people and property. It will not keep its arms crossed in the 
face of extremism or provocation," said Sidi Ould Zeine, adviser to the 
country's prime minister.

In the north-west African nation's coastal capital, Nouakchott, several 
dozen youths on Friday hurled rocks at buildings and burnt tyres in some 
parts of the city before they were dispersed by anti-riot police.

But the worst violence was reported on Wednesday and Thursday in several 
places in the south-east, when police faced down crowds of predominantly 
youthful demonstrators protesting hikes in the price of staple goods.

One person died and several were injured.

"The fact that they are young high-school pupils and not householders who 
demonstrated shows that there was some manipulation," said Zeine.

Two local leaders of the opposition, which has fiercely criticised the 
recent price hikes, were arrested in the south-eastern district of Kobeni on 
suspicion of stirring the riots.

The south-east of the vast, largely arid country was formerly a stronghold 
of ousted president Maaouiya Ould Taya and has been a trouble spot for the 
first democratically elected government in the Islamic republic.

Residents allege that their region has been marginalised since Taya was 
toppled in a military coup in 2005 and with the emergence of the new 
government of Sidi Ould Sheik Abdallahi.

Authorities have largely blamed the recent price hikes on soaring oil 
prices. To alleviate the impact, the government said cereals and other 
staples would be exempted from customs duty. -- Sapa-AFP

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77538

COTE D'IVOIRE: Food price hikes spark riots

Photo: Alexis Adele/IRIN
Riot police in the Cocody district of Abidjan clashing with protestors 
demonstrating about the rising cost of living
ABIDJAN, 31 March 2008 (IRIN) - At least a dozen protestors were wounded 
during several hours of clashes with police on 31 March as they demanded 
government action to curb food prices.

"We have so far registered eight people wounded at the hospital in Yopougon 
and four others in Cocody," said Thomas Kacao of the Ivorian Consumers 
Association (ACCI), one of the civil society groups behind the march.

The demonstrations took place in Cocody, where Ivorian President Laurent 
Gbagbo has a residence, and in Yopougon, a thriving area for shopping and 
nightlife.

Ivorian police used tear gas and batons to disperse protestors who were 
burning tires and overturning parked cars.

At the height of the demonstration, before riot police started firing tear 
gas, IRIN saw around 1,500 protestors chanting "we are hungry" and "life is 
too expensive, you are going to kill us."

"A kilo of beef has increased from 700 CFA (US$1.68) to 900 CFA (US$2.16) in 
just three days," one of the protestors, Amélie Koffi, told IRIN. "One litre 
of oil has increased from 600 CFA (US$1.44) to 850 CFA (US$2.04) in the same 
time."

"We only eat once during the day now," said another protestor, Alimata 
Camara. "If food prices increase more, what will we give our children to eat 
and how will they go to school?"

Kacao said the ACCI has recorded an "unending" rise in the cost of basic 
foodstuffs over the last three months. Some goods have increased by as much 
as 30 percent and 60 percent from one week to the next.

"When women go to the market they don't stop complaining about how much more 
expensive things have become," he said. "Today, with 2,000 CFA (US$4.80) 
they cannot buy enough food to feed even a family of five," Kacou 
complained.

Marcellin Kpangui, who has formed a new civil society organisation called 
No-to-the expensive-life, said the cause of the food price hikes in Cote d'Ivoire 
is rising petrol prices that are being passed on to consumers.

"We have called on the government many times [to do something] but we have 
the impression that no-one wants to give a response on this issue," Kpangui 
said.

IRIN's requests for comment from the Ivorian ministry of commerce, to which 
the Kpangui's NGO had addressed its criticisms, were declined.

But a member of the commerce minister's cabinet told IRIN, "I think the 
government will intervene by making a television announcement to calm things 
down," he said.

Yacouba Fandio, a taxi driver in Abidjan said he like many people in the 
city are interested in taking part in protests but have not done so so far. 
"Many times we hear that a protest will take part against the cost of living 
but it has been called off at the last minute. Next time a demo is called, 
the turn out will be so huge [the government] will have to listen," he said.

The World Food Programme says high global fuel prices coupled with an 
increased demand for food in wealthier Asian and Latin American markets and 
an increased demand for bio-fuel are behind food price rises around the 
world.

So far the worst instability resulting from high prices has been felt in 
West Africa, which is where many of the poorest countries in the world are 
found.

In Senegal and Mauritania the high price of imported wheat and rice products 
brought people onto the streets in late 2007.

Protestors again clashed with police in the Senegal capital on 30 March, 
prompting the police to temporarily take a television broadcaster which was 
reporting on the clashes off the air.

In Cameroon protests against food prices in late February turned violent and 
in Burkina Faso this year there have been food riots in all the major towns 
in the country in which hundreds of protestors have been arrested.

http://www.agoravox.com/article.php3?id_article=7983

Ivory Coast: Price Rise Riot: Laurent Gbagbo cancelled custom duties and cut 
taxes on staples.
After a second day of violent protests against price rise, President Laurent 
Gbagbo cancelled custom duties and also cut taxes on basic household 
products to stabilize prices and prevent any similar protest.

Violent demonstrations against the rising coast of living have shaken 
Abidjan, the economic hub of Ivory Coast these last two days, Monday 31st 
and Tuesday 1st April 2008. These demonstrations began to spread to the 
other towns of the country where populations also faced rising food prices.
Yesterday morning, April 1st, at around 11.am, in an attempt to disperse the 
growing number of demonstrators who set up barricades and burned tyres to 
close major roads, the Anti-riot police fired on protestors and gunn down 
the young demonstrator, SEA Abel, in Port Bouët Gonzagueville, a seaside 
suburb of Abidjan. The Anti-riot police also injured around 39 demonstrators 
and made many arrests.
The demonstrators started to confront Anti-riot police and ransack public 
buildings as the news about the assassination of the young demonstrator SEA 
Abel spread out.
In the afternoon, at 4.pm, the Secretary General of the Government, Tyeoulou 
Felix announced on the National TV Channel that the government has 
immediately decided to cancel custom duties on imported staples and cut 
taxes on the basic household products; rice, sugar, milk, fish, flour, oil, 
canned tomatoes, cement. He then begged the demonstrators to withdraw from 
the streets. On 8.pm, the President Laurent Gbagbo delivered a speech 
focussing the price rise issue aired on the National Radio and TV channels, 
RTI. He has appealed for calm and has invited the leaders of all the 
national consumers associations and the economic operators to a talk at the 
presidency.
No demonstration has been witnessed this morning in the streets, the concern 
of all the Ivorian citizens and non nationals living in Ivory Coast focuses 
the pending price stabilization discussions.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPOZt6WNg1ytneNCupZj-yFj_qdg

10 hurt as riot police break up Ivory Coast price demo
Mar 31, 2008
ABIDJAN (AFP) - More than 10 people were injured Monday when Ivory Coast 
riot police moved against several hundred demonstrators, mainly women, in 
Abidjan protesting over high prices.
Riot police used batons, tear gas and, apparently gunfire, to disperse the 
demonstrators on the outskirts of the economic capital's working-class 
Yopougon district, when they tried to put up roadblocks during their 
protest.
AFP journalists and witnesses saw at least a dozen wounded people some of 
whom had bullet wounds.
"We were only protesting against an increase in food prices when the police 
came to gas us," one demonstrator said, asking not to be named, but showing 
where he had been clubbed on the torso.
"My friend's leg was fractured by a bullet and I saw injured 'mamans'," he 
added, referring to the women traders who hold sway in many African street 
markets.
Protesters shouting slogans about their hunger and against President Laurent 
Gbagbo barred one of the main roads leading out of the port city to the 
north of the country.
Officers with the Anti-Riot Brigade briefly detained two AFP journalists, 
including a photographer, at the scene.
Gbagbo is unpopular in Yopougon, but made a surprise visit there on Friday 
with French former government minister Jack Lang and many journalists to 
visit the Rue Princesse nightclub, one of the most renowned in the city.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=76905

BURKINA FASO: Food riots shut down main towns
OUAGADOUGOU, 22 February 2008 (IRIN) - Riots over the cost of living hit 
three major towns in Burkina Faso this week, a situation which has raised 
fears among some observers about the peaceful but impoverished country's 
stability.

"This reaction was expected," Laurent Ouédraogo, secretary general of the 
Confédération Nationale des Travailleurs du Burkina (CNTB) told IRIN, 
stating that the riots happened after anger welled up because of constantly 
rising prices for basics like food, cloth and petrol.

"Misery does not wait and you see people witnessing everyday rising prices 
and they do not know what to do. The situation is like having matches near 
cotton that can catch fire at any moment," Ouédraogo said.

Protesters first swept onto the streets of Bobo-Dioulasso, the second 
largest city in the country, on Wednesday, when they attacked government 
offices and burned, shops, cars and petrol stations.

Protests continued in Bobo on Thursday when 100 people were arrested after a 
government delegation dispatched to make peace was stoned by rioters.

Similar protests erupted the same day in Ouhigouya, the third largest town 
in the country hundreds of kilometres north of Bobo-Dioulasso, and in 
another town in the west of the country, Banfora.

Government premises, mainly those of customs, taxes and street lights have 
been destroyed or burned by the demonstrators including merchants and 
traders who took on the streets to denounce mounting costs of taxes and 
goods.

The riots come two weeks after a government announcement that it was 
imposing "strong measures" to control the price of food and other basics 
which it said had increased by between 10 and 65 percent.

Life was returning to normal on Friday but soldiers, paramilitary and police 
forces could be seen at strategic points throughout all the towns and 
cities, as well as in the capital Ouagadougou, which had not seen any 
violence.

Speaking live on national television on 22 February, the Minister of Finance 
and Economy, Jean Baptiste Compaoré blamed high oil costs for the country's 
woes.

"The government is working to find solutions, but the solution must be 
regional if we want a sustainable solution", Compaoré said.

The government has confirmed it has been releasing emergency stocks onto the 
market to try to keep prices down. Some government officials said that 
informally customs has been blocking exports of grains and cereals, although 
this is not a nationwide policy.

The government also says it has also lowered taxes on some basic goods by 
between 30 and 35 percent.

Compaoré suggested the government having "dismantled" fraud techniques used 
by traders to avoid paying import and export taxes was the cause of the 
violence. "This is where it is painful for them," he said.

The Africa Flak blog, which is written from Ouagadougou, reported on 22 
February that some local press has blamed new government taxes for the high 
prices, which the government "strongly denies".

Other parts of the local media "claim that the new reforming Prime Minister 
has struck down much of the culture of bribes that the customs agents had 
set up with larger food merchants and grocery distributors" the blog 
reported.

Riots over high food prices have already erupted in Burkina Faso's Sahelian 
neighbours Mauritania and Senegal this year which are unusual in the region 
for being highly dependent on imported wheat and rice, products which have 
become more expensive worldwide this year.

In West Africa that situation is being compounded by unusually high food 
prices because of a disrupted growing season in some parts of the region in 
2007 and reports that traders are hoarding stocks at markets in northern 
Nigeria, Ghana and elsewhere.

Another West African country, Guinea Conakry, is deemed among the most 
unstable countries in the world by conflict analysts, in large part because 
of five successive nationwide anti-government riots over the last 18 months 
sparked by mass discontent over the rising cost of living.

http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=148&a=5876

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:01:00Email this Print this PDF version
Food riots rock Yemen

By Bill Weinberg

(WW4 Report) -- Tanks have been deployed in parts of southern Yemen after a 
fifth day of angry protests by thousands of mostly young people. Youth are 
blocking roads and burning tires, and up to 100 have been arrested. In 
al-Dalea, two police station were torched, and military vehicles burned, 
while riot police fired into the air and used tanks against street 
barricades. In response, armed protesters threw up roadblocks on the main 
road between the capital, Sanaa, and the port of Aden, halting traffic.
The unrest started in the Radfan region of al-Dalea province March 30 and 
spread the next day to the province of Lahj. President Ali Abdullah Saleh 
called an emergency meeting of the National Defense Council on April 3. 
Al-Dalea residents report that one of at least 14 people wounded had died. 
The official Saba news agency said April 2 there were no fatalities.
Rising food prices helped trigger the protests. The price of wheat has 
doubled since February, while rice and vegetable oil have gone up 20%. 
Disaffection in southern Yemen has been long-standing following the civil 
war of 1994, in which the south lost its independence. Southerners say a 
government amnesty granting former southern soldiers re-admission to the 
army has not been fulfilled, and that they are kept out of government jobs


http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501E0D61F3DF93BA35757C0A961958260

Food Riots Hit Pakistan
Published: April 8, 1997
Food riots paralyzed the northwestern city of Peshawar and hit other towns 
today, forcing the Government to order special trains to take wheat there.
The police said they had used batons and tear gas to stop the looting of 
stocks and blocking of roads. Wheat has not been available for several days.
The Government links the wheat shortage to several factors: smuggling to 
neighboring countries, particularly war-shattered Afghanistan; hoarding, and 
the late arrival of imported wheat.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080328-126937/Youth-group-stages-protest-at-NFA-over-rice-crisis

Youth group stages protest at NFA over rice crisis
By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 11:33:00 03/28/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- While a small crowd was beginning to form inside the 
National Food Authority (NFA) warehouse to buy a kilo of NFA rice for 
P18.25, another group was sitting outside the gates of the warehouse eating 
instant noodles.
The group, composed of around 20 youths, was protesting the rising prices of 
rice amid an alleged looming shortage.
The group, led by militant group Youth Revolt, held a noise barrage and ate 
instant noodles in front of the NFA-NCR (National Capital Region) warehouse 
at the corner of Visayas Avenue and Elliptical Road in Quezon City at 10 
a.m. on Friday.
The group had no permit to rally and even NFA security personnel were 
surprised upon the youth's arrival. The NFA warehouse closed its gates to 
prevent protesters from entering the premises.
"Wala namang rice shortage eh. Ano kinakatakot nila [There is no rice 
shortage. What are they afraid of]?" asked an NFA personnel who refuse to be 
named.
Andreb Asido, spokesman of Kadamay-NCR, said the poor were the victims.
"Sa Tondo at sa ibang lugar sa Manila kinakain nila ang mga tira-tira ng 
Jollibee at iba pa na napupulot nila sa basura [In Tondo and in other areas 
in Manila, they are eating leftovers from Jollibee and others that they 
might find in garbage]," he said.
But Rex Estoperez, NFA spokesman, denied that there was a shortage although 
he admitted that there was a need to import rice to support the increasing 
population.
Estoperez said the government would have to import 2.1 metric tons of rice 
this year, compared to the 1.85 metric tons last year.
Estoperez said the problem of higher prices was a "global phenomenon" 
brought about by the increasing oil prices in the world market and global 
warming, affecting basic commodities like rice.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i4k-_y-HkHmgLASfkc4UNK-45Lxw

Hundreds of Cambodians protest against inflation
Apr 6, 2008
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - About 300 people rallied Sunday outside Cambodia's 
parliament to protest against double-digit inflation and to demand wage 
increases to deal with soaring food costs.
The protesters, led by Cambodia's main opposition Sam Rainsy Party, carried 
banners reading: "We want pay raises. Government must stop inflation."
"The current government is unable to curb inflation... We are pushing them 
to reduce the prices of essential items or to increase salaries in line with 
inflation," opposition leader Sam Rainsy told reporters.
The demonstrators later walked to the nearby site of a 1997 grenade attack, 
where 16 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded during an 
anti-government protest.
About 100 anti-riot police carrying electric prods and tear gas blocked the 
surrounding streets to prevent the protesters from entering neighbourhood 
markets.
Cambodia's inflation cracked into double digits late last year, hovering 
around 11 percent, driving up the cost of food and other staple goods.
The price of meat and other essential items has risen by as much as 40 
percent over the past year.
Rice -- Cambodia's staple food -- now costs nearly one dollar per kilogramme 
(2.2 pounds), deepening the poverty of the one-third of the country's 14 
million people who live on less than 50 cents a day.
"The prices of commodities have increased so much -- especially oil, rice 
and meat -- that I can't afford to live," said 20-year-old Huor Ly Ly, a 
garment worker whose salary is under 60 dollars a month.
The Cambodian government earlier pushed out a series of measures meant to 
halt price hikes, banning rice exports and lifting a ban on imported pork. 
Prices of basic foods, however, have remained stubbornly high.
Aid agencies have warned that the growing food crisis could threaten tens of 
thousands of rural Cambodians with hunger in the coming year, as even food 
handouts have become significantly more expensive and harder to distribute.