Bread Crisis in Egypt Leads to Clashes (OT)

[Guest guest]

It doesn't seem to be a question of there not being

enough grain - just really, really cheap bread. Less than 1 cent a

loaf.... When is the last time you were able to buy bread that cheaply?

If ever?

Lynn

Bread Crisis in Egypt Leads to

ClashesMonday, March 24, 2008

By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt ­ Clashes have been breaking out among Egyptians

waiting in long lines for subsidized bread and the president has ordered

the army to start baking more to contain a political crisis.

The turmoil in the world's most populous Arab country, a top U.S.

ally, is a stark sign of how rising world food prices are roiling poorer

countries.

Government bakeries sell subsidized versions of the flat, round bread

that is a staple of people's diets. Acute shortages of subsidized bread,

which is sold at less than one U.S. cent a loaf, have caused hours-long

lines and violence at some sites in poor neighborhoods in recent

weeks.

At least seven people have died, according to police. Two were stabbed in

fights between customers in line, and the rest died of exhaustion or

other medical problems aggravated by waiting in the spring heat.

Independent and opposition parties have been sharply critical of

President Hosni Mubarak's government, calling the long lines a sign that

his government is failing.

" Our life has become so miserable, " said one worker, Saber

Ahmed, who spends up to four hours daily in bread lines to get 20 pieces

of bread for colleagues at the cafe where he works. The 17-year-old,

wearing a ragged T-shirt as he stood in a long line, said he and

co-workers can't afford unsubsidized bread, " or any food to eat with

it. "

Any Egyptian can get subsidized bread under a decades-old system that

also provides subsidies for public transportation and gasoline for all.

The system also provides subsidies for some other food staples

specifically for the poor.

Demand for the subsidized bread has grown steadily in recent months as

rising commodity prices _ especially for flour _ have made unsubsidized

bread less affordable. More than 20 percent of Egypt's 76 million people

live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. Unsubsidized

bread can sell for 10 to 12 times the subsidized price.

The supply of subsidized bread has been decreasing. Many people in Egypt

believe subsidized bakeries sell some of their flour on the black market

rather than make bread.

Last week, Mubarak ordered the army to increase the production and

distribution of subsidized bread to cope with the shortages. The army and

the Interior Ministry, which controls the police, own bakeries that they

normally use to feed their employees.

In recent days, the army has opened 10 large bakeries in Cairo to produce

cheap bread and has set up about 500 kiosks to sell bread to the public,

said Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Meselhi.

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper said Mubarak's order to the armed

forces to intervene " means that he has declared an emergency state

to combat this crisis. " Another columnist in the paper called the

bread riots " a very critical moment " for Egypt, demonstrating

the gap between rich and poor.

Some fear the crisis could mirror riots in 1977 that killed at least 70

people after the government hiked the price of bread and other subsidized

foods.

Egypt grows about half of the more than 14 million tons of wheat it

consumes every year. It has also long been one of the top importers of

U.S. wheat, using about $54 million of some $2 billion a year in U.S. aid

to buy it. But its U.S. purchases have been falling as it searches for

cheaper sellers on the world market, where prices have tripled in the

last 10 months.

Mubarak has ordered the government to use foreign currency reserves to

buy additional wheat, according to his spokesman Suleiman Awad.

The government also will add 15 million new names to the list of those

receiving cheap rations of cooking oil, sugar and rice. That and other

measures will increase the government's annual food subsidy costs by $3.1

billion to a total of $13.7 billion this year.

None of that has given much relief to citizens, many of whom already are

disgruntled with Mubarak's government because of its long hold on power,

and its favoritism and corruption.

" I've been standing here for hours, and we are not close to getting

bread yet, " said Mohammed el-Deeb, a manager at medical company.

" Of course I need to stand in the line, I can't afford the other

bread. "

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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