Bread Riots in Egypt

This is just a small-scale preview of a looming food crisis the world is poised to face in the not-so-distant future. Food is going to become a commodity. And who are the main producers of food and, most importantly, wheat? US, Canada, Europe and Australia.

Now, whom will the Egyptians ask for help? Who will bail them out? Their Arab brothers or the hated infidels?

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- 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 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.

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