Continued Riots in Haiti Amid Rising Food Prices
Written by admin on April 10th, 2008 in World Markets.
The United Nations yesterday warned that the political unrest across the globe that is being spurned on by rising global food prices, could undo the progress that has been made in developing countries.
In the Port-au-Prince province of Haiti rioters took to the streets for the second day after UN peacekeepers had fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters to stop them storming the presidential palace.
Protester set tyres alight and looted stores as hungry demonstrators rioted amid price hikes in staple foods such as rice and beans, as well as hikes in fuel costs. Five people were killed in the riots as protesters dubbed their hunger “grangou klowox” or eating bleach, a phrase being used to describe the burning in their stomachs.
A net importer of rice and one of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti is being hit hard by the rise in global food prices where people have no more than £1 a day to live on. Rioters have been demanding that the government should scrap all taxes on staples, and have called for the resignation of the president.
Haiti’s president Mr Preval has spoke of the possibility of increased government subsidies on the production of staple foods, but whether this will placate rioters is unknown.
The president did make a public address stating “To those who are stirring up violence, I order you to stop because it is not going to solve the problem”. He has also ordered Halti police and the 9,000 peacekeepers in the country to halt all looting in the country.
The unrest seen in Haiti provides evidence of the destabilising effect that accelerated food inflation could have around the world. Global food prices have surged of late, brought on by increasing demand in rapidly expanding countries such as China and India, drought in grain producing Australia and new competition for plant based bio-fuels.
Since 2002 the UN estimates that global food prices are up 65%, with grain up 42% and dairy up 80% in 2007 alone.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a recent report that Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal have all seen unrest in recent weeks linked to food and fuel prices.
