DAKAR, 13 November 2007 (IRIN) - Several towns and cities in Mauritania have been hit by protests against rising food prices, according to news reports.

On 12 November, in Zouérate in north central Mauritania the army was called in to disperse looters who vandalised and burned shops, according to the French news agency AFP. There has also been unrest in the towns Néma, Kiffa, Timbédra, Djiguenny, Kobeiny, Kankossa, Rosso and Ayoun, Radio France Internationale reported.

According to the Mauritanian statistics agency, annual inflation has reached 28 percent on some locally-grown foodstuffs.

But wheat products, a staple for animals and humans, have gone up more, due to international price increases.

Mauritania grows just 30 percent of the food its three million people need and imported wheat prices have exploded by over 75 percent there this year, from US$200 for a ton to US$356, according to the food monitoring group FEWSNET.

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