Tens Of Thousands In Somalia Protest Soaring Food Prices; Police Shoot, Kill 2

Mogadishu, Somalia (AHN) - Two people were killed when police opened fire on on tens of thousands of hungry people rioting over rising food prices in Mogadishu, Somalia on Monday, the most recent of food riots around the world.

Since January the number of people in Somalia that need help to feed themselves has increased by 40 percent to 2.6 million. Women and children were among the protesters.

Within the past few days riots over soaring food prices erupted in Senegal and Yemen, last month they broke out in Egypt and they have occurred in Haiti and other poor countries as well.

Prices of basic foods such as rice have been soaring rapidly around the world, fueled in part by rising demand such things as drought and more food crops diverted to biofuel production, but also by increasing speculation by investors looking to make a quick buck in the food futures markets, according to reports by Britain's The Independent.

World Bank officials have said global food prices have doubled in the past three years.

But another problem is affecting people in Somalia. Food traders are refusing to take Somali shillings and insist people pay in U.S. dollars, which experts say is making the problem worse by increasing inflation, Agency France Press reports.

United Nations monitors say that although there are no official inflation figures for Somalia that cereal prices in the past year have increased between 110 and 375 percent, in part because of the record drought there, according to AFP.

Food prices in Somalia have increased on some food staple items by as much as 50 percent in the past few weeks, leaving families unable to buy enough food to eat.

In Mogadishu, the price of 2.2 pounds of corn meal has gone from 12 cents in January to 25 cents, while rice has nearly doubled in price, the AP reports.