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Food Shortages Herald New Era Of Hunger As More Countries Suffer Riots Over Rising Prices And Shortages Of Staples

April 14, 2008

A third day of riots in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, had by Friday paralyzed the city with looting and violence.

The toll includes a U.N. soldier who has been shot and killed in the capital while delivering food to his unit.

U.N. Mission spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe said the soldier was shot Saturday afternoon and that he was a member of a 1,000-strong unit that deals with riots.

She said U.N. troops did not exchange fire, but had no further details.

The demonstrations began earlier in the week, in protest against rising food prices, and turned into riots.

The looting has made access to food even more difficult, doing little to ease widespread hunger among Haitians.

Port-au-Prince hospitals were filled with people injured in the riots, being treated by volunteers from the organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).

Wagner Pierre, who works for Medecins Sans Frontieres, said many of the wounds they were seeing were a result of bullets.

“In the last 4 days we have received 160 wounded, 40 of which were from gun bullet wounds,” said Wagner.

Many of the injured were bystanders caught in crossfire, like David Saint Felix, who was wounded in the leg during the protests.

“I was passing through the Haitian marine base looking for my brother who was in the protests, when I was hit with a bullet in my leg,” said Saint Felix.

The fighting across the capital was punctuated with calls for the Haitian president’s resignation.

This afternoon, a Haitian senator said that parliament has voted to dismiss Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.

President Rene Preval announced a drop in the price of rice Saturday in a bid to defuse anger over rising food prices.

After meeting with food importers in the national palace, Preval said the price of a 50-pound bag of rice will drop from US$51 to US$43 - a reduction of 15.7 percent.

The Haitian president said the government will use international aid money to subsidize the price of rice and that the private sector has agreed to knock US$3 off the price of each bag. Preval did not say when the price reduction would go into effect.

Preval also said he would ask Venezuela for help, especially about providing fertilizer for struggling farmers.

The announcements come in the wake of looting and clashes between hundreds of protesters and U.N. peacekeepers earlier this week. Protesters blame the government for failing to create jobs and control soaring food prices and some demonstrators called for Preval’s resignation. The violence left at least five people dead.

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Written by admin · Filed Under Disease & Pestilence 

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