[Vnbiz] Global food riots turn deadly

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear CACC,

Below is an article on the  Washington Times (April 10, 2008) about global
food riots.  VNExpress also has a number of pictures on these riots at

http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/The-gioi/Anh/2008/04/3BA013AC/


Vietnam is very lucky that we haven't got any riot yet, and let's hope that
we won't.  All the economic issues we are facing currently are global in
nature:  Food shortage due to draught and water shortage, gasoline price
increases (due mainly to OPEC), a global recession (due mainly to the
US economic sluggishness, but I am not sure whether it has other causes
like global economic cycle).

Right now inflation is secondary problem.  As you see in this article, food
security is the primary concern.  Then inflation.

And of course we have the threat of cholera.  I wonder why Vietnam has so
many serious health threats in recent years.  Are the Ministry of Health and
Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development really doing their job?

Have a great day!

Hoanh
_____________


http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080410/FOREIGN/401836215/1001
 Global food riots turn deadly

By David R. Sands <dsands at washingtontimes.com>
April 10, 2008

 <javascript:NewWindow(600,400,'/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/templates/zoom.pbs&Site=WT&Date=20080410&Category=FOREIGN&ArtNo=401836215&Ref=AR&Profile=1001');>
DESPERATE TIMES: Men accused of looting near the presidential palace in
Port-au-Prince are put in a police vehicle in Haiti yesterday. The rise in
global food prices has caused thievery and riots, as well as fatalities.
------------------------------

Anger over spiraling world food prices is becoming increasingly violent.

Deadly clashes over higher costs for staple foods have broken out in Egypt,
Haiti and several African states, and an international food expert yesterday
warned of more clashes with no short-term relief in sight.

"World food prices have risen 45 percent in the last nine months and there
are serious shortages of rice, wheat and [corn]," Jacques Diouf, head of the
Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said at a major
conference in New Delhi yesterday.

"There is a risk that this unrest will spread in countries where 50 to 60
percent of income goes to food," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a personal appeal for calm in
Haiti yesterday. U.N. peacekeepers were called to protect the residence of
President Rene Preval from rioters protesting sharp increases in the prices
of food and fuel. At least five people have been reported killed in
disturbances since last week after the cost of rice doubled and gas prices
rose a third time since February.

A supermarket, several gas station marts and a government rice warehouse
were looted, the Associated Press reported.

 *Video:* Haitian leader's pleas fail to stop
riots<javascript:void(window.open('http://video.ap.org/vws/search/aspx/ap.aspx?t=s59&p=ENAPworld_ENAPworld&g=0409dv_haiti_protests&f=dctms','_blank','width=788,height=598,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1'));>

Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif this week promised concessions to
workers in the industrial city of Mahalla al-Kobra after two days of rioting
over rising food prices left one protester dead.

The clashes were described as the most serious anti-government
demonstrations since 1977 riots erupted over soaring bread prices.

The FAO has reported popular unrest over rising food prices in Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique, Bolivia and
Uzbekistan, among other countries.

The Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer, moved to head off
protests after global prices doubled in a year. Financial giant Credit
Suisse yesterday reported that higher rice prices would cut the country's
gross domestic product this year by at least 1 percent.

The government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo tightened controls of
domestic rice sales and strengthened security at government storehouses to
prevent hoarding. Anyone convicted of "stealing rice from the people" will
be thrown in jail, she warned.

U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney yesterday said the Bush administration would
offset any rice shortfall with cuts from other exporters.

World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said earlier this month that nearly
three dozen countries face social unrest because of surging food and fuel
prices. For the countries most at risk, "there is no margin for survival,"
he said.

Josette Sheeran, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, was in
Washington last month making an urgent appeal for funds to compensate for
rising prices.

"We're asking for the world to really think through how we meet the
emergency needs of the hungry," Ms. Sheeran told The Washington Times.

Even the most repressive regimes are not immune to popular unrest. The spark
for rioting against the military junta in Burma last year was a rise in food
and fuel prices after the government abruptly removed subsidies.

International agricultural analysts have seen the crisis building for
months, spurred by an unusual combination of forces that John Holmes, the
chief U.N. humanitarian official, this week called a "perfect storm" of
trends fueling demand, cutting supply and producing higher global grocery
bills.

Among them: higher fuel prices that make transporting food more expensive
and encourage farmers to shift from crop production to biofuels; rising food
demand as China, India and other Asian countries grow wealthier; drought in
major producers such as Australia; and speculation on major commodities
markets that staple prices will stay high.

Mr. Holmes predicted at a conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that
the situation will spill into the political arena.

"The security implications [of the food crisis] should not be
underestimated, as food riots are already being reported across the globe,"
he said. "Current food prices are likely to increase sharply both the
incidence and depth of food insecurity."

Ms. Sheeran told The Times that her agency was $500 million short for the
current fiscal year in meeting needs to relieve the global food and fuel
crises.

"We don't have the buffering space" to cover such sharp increases in the
cost of basic staples, she said.

Analysts say the price increases are across the board, not focused on one
crop or market as in past commodity patterns.

A survey released by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research
Institute found that the price of staple food has risen by 80 percent since
2005, including a 40 percent surge last year alone. The real price of rice
is at a 19-year high and the price of wheat on world markets is at a 28-year
high.

"The realities of demography, changing diets, energy prices and biofuels,
and climate change suggest that high — and volatile — food prices will be
with us for years to come," said study author Joachim von Braun.

It is not just the poor who have taken to the streets over rising food
prices.

Workers at the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Jordan staged a one-day
strike Monday to demand higher pay to cover rising food and gas prices. The
action closed 177 schools for Palestinian refugees.

The U.N. staffers say they are prepared to walk off the job again next week
if they do not get a pay raise.

*Surging prices have led to food riots and protests around the globe.*

EGYPT — Violent protests this week over soaring food prices left one dead
and 15 injured.

HAITI — Five people were killed and about 20 injured in a week of protests,
including an attack on U.N. peacekeepers.

CAMEROON — Violent food riots in February claimed 40 lives, and protests
continue this month.

BURKINA FASO — A general strike is called this week over rising food prices,
after protests earlier this year led to hundreds of arrests.

PHILIPPINES — The government beefs up security at rice warehouses to prevent
theft and hoarding.

JORDAN — U.N. aid workers stage a one-day strike for more pay to cover food
and fuel price increases.

BURMA — Cuts in fuel and food subsidies sparked massive anti-government
protests last summer.

• *This article is based in part on wire service reports.*

-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
Washington DC
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.saigon.com/pipermail/vnbiz/attachments/20080412/ed565756/attachment-0001.html