Tens of thousands riot in Mogadishu in eruption of anger over food prices

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Source: The Independent (UK)

By Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu
Tuesday, 6 May 2008

Troops have fired into tens of thousands of rioting Somalis, killing two people in the latest eruption of anger over high food prices in Africa, witnesses said.

In the capital Mogadishu, protesters marched against the refusal of traders to accept old 1,000-shilling notes, blaming them and a growing number of counterfeiters for rising food costs ...

In Mogadishu, the price of a kilogram of corn meal has risen from 12 cents (6p) in January to 25 cents. Another staple, rice, has gone up in that time from $26 to $47.50 for a 50kg sack. Food prices also have been affected by the plummeting Somali shilling, which lost nearly half its value this year, dropping from 17,000 shillings to the US dollar to 30,000 amid growing insecurity and a market clogged with counterfeit notes ...

The UN food security unit warned last week that half of Somalia's seven million population faces famine. It blamed an enduring drought as well as soaring food prices. Food protests have also erupted in three other African countries, including Senegal, whose President, Abdoulaye Wade, called for the UN to dismantle its Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). He said he had long called for the Rome-based organisation to be transferred to Africa ...

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/tens-of-thousands-riot-in-mogadishu-in-eruption-of-anger-over-food-prices-821614.html