Country gridlocked by fuel price hikes

Businesses in the Comoran capital, Moroni, were shut for the fourth day after weekend protests over a fuel price hike that left one person dead and scores injured. "It is calm today but there is still quite a bit of tension in Moroni. We haven't heard anything from the government but all the schools, shops and markets are still closed and there are few taxis operating," political analyst Abdorahim Said Bacar told IRIN on Tuesday. Reuters news agency reported on Sunday that police had opened fire with live rounds of ammunition after demonstrators refused to dismantle road blocks set up to protest a 40 percent price increase announced earlier in the week. "The big concern was that the demonstrators felt as if the decision to increase the price of fuel was taken unilaterally by the government, without consideration for how people would cope in their daily lives," Bacar added. Petrol prices will go up from 500 Comorian francs per litre to 700 francs, while the cost of diesel will rise by 71.4 percent. Kerosene will follow suit with an increase of 40.8 percent. "The government has to realise that because access to information is so limited in our country, they must make an extra effort and explain to people why the petrol price is increasing. It is really quite presumptuous to expect the poor and illiterate to know that local fuel price hikes are linked to a global increase in oil," explained Bacar. On Tuesday President Azali Assoumani's cabinet, traders and workers' organisations remained locked in negotiations to seek a solution to the situation. Talks were suspended on Sunday after the unions vowed to go on a general strike if petrol prices were not lowered.