|
Côte d'Ivoire: Food Price Hikes Spark Riots
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 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. 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. 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. Posted by: Steve White 2008-04-01 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=235691 |