/ 9 November 2007

Mauritanian govt says food riots engineered

The government in Mauritania on Friday defended its handling of food riots this week, claiming that violent protests in opposition strongholds that left one dead were deliberately orchestrated. In the north-west African nation's coastal capital, Nouakchott, several dozen youths on Friday hurled rocks at buildings.

The government in Mauritania on Friday defended its handling of food riots this week, claiming that violent protests in opposition strongholds that left one dead were deliberately orchestrated.

”The government regrets the victims, but will remain firm to guarantee the security of people and property. It will not keep its arms crossed in the face of extremism or provocation,” said Sidi Ould Zeine, adviser to the country’s prime minister.

In the north-west African nation’s coastal capital, Nouakchott, several dozen youths on Friday hurled rocks at buildings and burnt tyres in some parts of the city before they were dispersed by anti-riot police.

But the worst violence was reported on Wednesday and Thursday in several places in the south-east, when police faced down crowds of predominantly youthful demonstrators protesting hikes in the price of staple goods.

One person died and several were injured.

”The fact that they are young high-school pupils and not householders who demonstrated shows that there was some manipulation,” said Zeine.

Two local leaders of the opposition, which has fiercely criticised the recent price hikes, were arrested in the south-eastern district of Kobeni on suspicion of stirring the riots.

The south-east of the vast, largely arid country was formerly a stronghold of ousted president Maaouiya Ould Taya and has been a trouble spot for the first democratically elected government in the Islamic republic.

Residents allege that their region has been marginalised since Taya was toppled in a military coup in 2005 and with the emergence of the new government of Sidi Ould Sheik Abdallahi.

Authorities have largely blamed the recent price hikes on soaring oil prices. To alleviate the impact, the government said cereals and other staples would be exempted from customs duty. — Sapa-AFP