Bread prices spark controversy in Morocco
 |
Story Tools
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
|
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.
Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
|
|
RABAT, Morocco (Reuters) -- Moroccan bakers started a 48-hour strike on Wednesday to pressure the government to allow them to raise bread prices, a move which triggered bloody riots in 1981.
The price of bread is such a sensitive issue in Morocco that it has not changed in 15 years.
In 1981, a government-ruled hike in bread prices sparked popular unrest that was violently suppressed and left officially 29 civilians killed by security forces. Human rights groups say up to 500 were killed and buried in mass graves.
In theory, nothing prevents bakers from going ahead with the increase because the government in 2001 relinquished control over bread prices to them.
But bakers say the government, maybe with the 1981 riots in mind, asked them last October to cancel a 10 percent increase.
"They told us to wait a month, arguing the issue is too sensitive. What are we supposed to understand by that, especially that they did not get back to us since then," said a spokesman for the trade union.
Economic Restructuring Minister Abderazzak El Mossadeq, who is in charge of the issue, declined to comment.
The bakers' union wants a gradual rise of 27 percent over nine months. A loaf of bread in Morocco costs 1.1 dirham (12 US cents), about nine times less than its equivalent in France.
Bakers say costs have risen sharply since 1989, when the price of bread last went up. "The price of yeast, for example, has more than doubled," the spokesman said.
An industry expert called the whole affair an anomaly.
"It's abnormal for bread prices to stagnate for years while electricity, sugar, clothes, school books, fuel prices and the minimum wage have risen time and over," he said.
State media said the strike disrupted supply in Casablanca. The union claimed an 80 percent national participation rate.
"We're not making bread today...we make less than five percent margin on bread anyway," said the owner of a cafe and bakery in central Rabat.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
