The War of Bread
Maputo The Executive will reconsider the increases have already been decided and ordered the two-thirds of the poverty population. And the world grows the risk of a new era of wars for the bread. Ten dead and almost 300 wounded were not enough. After two days of urban warfare, destroyed and looted shops, buses and cars on fire and the army had to intervene to give a hand and help the police to disperse protesters took to the streets to protest the price increases, the government Mozambique said the cost increases decided in recent weeks should be considered "irreversible."
For a State which is just over 20 million inhabitants, where 14 of them living below the poverty line and salaries that do not reach the $ 2 a day, this is to condemn the majority of the population to 'poverty and poverty, with the risk of new waves of protests, riots and other other victims. The data collected by the International Monetary Fund indicate that the Mozambican economy grows faster than that of its neighbors. In the African country, however, prices are still rising and inflation galloping erode the already meager weekly wages of workers. On September
water and electricity prices increased by 13 percent, while at the beginning of August had increased by 8 fuel because of the liberalization policy pursued by the government in Maputo, which is gradually stop subsidizing gasoline. As if all this were not enough, next week is expected to further increase the price of bread, which will add to that already recorded in recent days.
Recently, FAO, the Organization of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned for the growth of food prices on the international market, which reached the highest level of the last two years, while they were still below the peak reached in June 2008. Between July and August, the surge was 5 percent. An increase in part related to the blocking of exports Russian wheat decided by Moscow after the devastating fire last month that destroyed part of his harvest, but in different parts of the world, as in Mozambique, is likely to be misused by governments and private companies to generate increases in prices and increase their profits. also why the United Nations have decided to analyze the problem on September 24 calling for an extraordinary session of the Intergovernmental Group on Grains and the Intergovernmental Panel on FAO Rice.
Meanwhile reappeared the possibility of a new era of wars for the bread, such as those that were fought two years ago in many poor areas of the globe, from Mexico to Bangladesh, with millions of people forced to fight against laws and market economic principles just to (try to) eat a single morsel of bread .
Behind the revolt of Maputo, cost of living and injustices
E 'seven dead, including two children, and nearly a hundred injured in clashes in the various budget areas of the capital of Mozambique, Maputo, between police and thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest against rising prices of food staples.
The riots coincided with the entry into force of price rises in a series essential services, from water to electricity. But the rising price of bread, which should lay it on thick Monday by almost 40%, would have been the spark that ignited the protest protests are not organized by any union or association but only by a simple word circulated through SMS on mobile phones.
" Behind the revolt of Maputo's high prices, poverty in the suburbs, a social divide that is increasing " says the agency Misna . The riots coincided with the entry into force of price rises in a range of essential services, from water to electricity. Monday, then, the price of bread would increase by almost 40%. The latter increase would have been the spark that ignited the protest today, a protest was not organized by any union or association but only by a simple word circulated through SMS on mobile phones.
"inflation The race started already last year, shortly after the confirmation election of the 'Liberation Front of Mozambique' to the end of government subsidies . In the period that preceded the October 2009 legislative vote, explain the Misna, the government has depressed prices for gasoline and many consumer goods. In the long run, however, this policy was not sustainable from a financial point of view. This year, the end of March to the end of August, gasoline prices have risen by almost 50%. Inflation, before the vote and 2% to 16% today, led to the devaluation of the Metical and thus increasing the cost of imported goods denominated in dollars or South African rand. Of these dynamics, decisive for the gasoline price increases but also the flour bought on international markets, told the Misna some missionaries.
" stone-throwing and looting of shops with the police - says Konrad Klich father, a missionary of the Divine Word in Maputo - ignite the suburbs, where no work and the poor feel abandoned .
Fueling the tensions, the sources of stress Misna are also social inequalities. " Mozambique is rich in coal, timber and other natural resources but exports only enrich a small elite . The sources of Misna exclude significant involvement of opposition parties, the Movement for multiparty democracy and the Mozambique National Resistance, weak and divided. Difficult to predict how it will end, despite an important precedent: In February 2008, before the October elections, demonstrations and riots led the government to cancel a 50% increase of freight rates.
Maputo The Executive will reconsider the increases have already been decided and ordered the two-thirds of the poverty population. And the world grows the risk of a new era of wars for the bread. Ten dead and almost 300 wounded were not enough. After two days of urban warfare, destroyed and looted shops, buses and cars on fire and the army had to intervene to give a hand and help the police to disperse protesters took to the streets to protest the price increases, the government Mozambique said the cost increases decided in recent weeks should be considered "irreversible." 
