Mozambique: Protests against the high cost of living

By on September 3, 2010
Seven people have been killed since Wednesday in the riots against high living costs in Maputo, including three on Thursday morning, while fighting continued in the poor suburbs of the Mozambican capital, the Red Cross said.

The demonstrators were violently charged by police, who first fired in the air before opening fire on the crowd after they were run out of tear gas and rubber bullets.

The Mozambique is dependent on its powerful neighbor, South Africa, for all essential commodities that have seen, in recent weeks, their prices becoming soar because of the sharp appreciation of the rand. Oil, sugar, flour and milk have become virtually inaccessible to the majority of the Mozambicans with nearly two thirds living below the poverty level.

In 2008 another demonstration against high prices left at least six deaths in this country often portrayed as a good student of the Britton Woods institution, but many Mozambicans are complaining of the corrupted ruling elite.

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