At Least Five Killed In Somali Food Riots As Troops Fire On Angry Crowds - LA Times

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA -- Thousands of angry Somalis rioted Monday over rising food prices and the collapse of the nation's currency, culminating in clashes with government troops and armed shopkeepers that killed at least five protesters, witnesses and officials said. Shops and markets throughout Mogadishu quickly shut their doors as protesters, including many women and children, stoned storefronts and chanted slogans accusing traders of cheating them.

"I've never demonstrated before, but I'm not ashamed because if you can't eat, you will do whatever you can," said Abdullahi Mohammed, 57, of Mogadishu. "Before I was eating three times a day, but now sometimes it's not even once."

Somalia's beleaguered population is already coping with a civil war that began with the collapse of the government in 1991. But recently, the Horn of Africa nation's food industry, which previously thrived thanks to private traders, has been grappling with soaring inflation, spurred by an explosion of counterfeit currency over the last year and the global rise in food prices. Somalia imports at least 60% of its grain, and its local crops this year were devastated by a cycle of drought and flooding.

As a result, prices for rice, maize, sorghum and other cereals are up between 100% and 400% over the last year. A sack of rice that sold for $32 only one month ago is now going for $52.

EDIT

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-somalia6-2008may06,0,4193323.story