The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Port-Au-Prince

Sellers and angry customers clashed over the price of rice in Haiti on Tuesday, three days after the government announced a deal to reduce the price by 15 percent after food riots that killed at least five people.

Vendors said customers had expected rice prices to drop immediately after the government announced on Saturday an agreement with importers to cut the cost of a 110-pound (50-kg) sack of rice from $51 to $43. But vendors were still selling older, higher-priced stocks, angering hungry Haitians and keeping alive simmering tensions over skyrocketing living costs in a nation where most people get by on less than $2 a day.

There were no reports of injuries as a result of the heated confrontations, which in some places involved minor scuffles, but lawmakers called on the government to announce immediately when the price cuts would reach the market to prevent further violence.