Maputo — Mozambique’s government refused yesterday to reverse this week’s price hikes that have hit the poorest, sparking the country’s worst riots in two years.

Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, was rocked by violent clashes on Wednesday between police and protesters, enraged by the increase in the price of basic goods — fuel, water, bread and electricity.

Police shot rubber bullets and live ammunition into crowds of people on Wednesday, and while yesterday’s protests were less bloody, protesters have vowed to continue striking for their cause today.

Government figures put Wednesday's casualty count at seven dead and 288 wounded, along with vandalised vehicles and shops - including several electricity distribution points, which were strategically targeted. The dead included at least two children. Protests like this were most recently seen on Maputo's streets in February 2008, when people took to the streets demanding cheaper fuel, and six were killed during the violence. Two years ago, the government responded with a series of cuts and a fuel subsidy that has effectively kept the price of fuel at last March's levels.

Wednesday marked an increase in the price of not only fuel, but bread, water and electricity, as the government tried to bring the prices of these basic goods more in line with the market. For this impoverished country, it meant deprivation for the poorest. And things have not been helped by the rapidly devaluing metical, Mozambique's local currency.

Local radio reported last month that earlier this year, 1 bought 27 meticais, but at the end of last month, it was 37 meticais to the dollar. The currency's relationship with the rand has followed a similar trend. For a country that relies heavily on imported goods, this has been disastrous for the country's most poor.

Text messages were circulated earlier this week, calling on Mozambicans to band together and strike. Smoke rose from various poor neighbourhoods on Wednesday morning, as burning tyres were rolled into the streets and riots broke out.

On Wednesday evening, another text message began circulating, accusing the government of not having responded to demands, and calling on their comrades to continue.

The government has not responded to any demands. In fact, they have done little other than deploy armed policemen and appeal for calm.

Interior Minister Jose Pacheco, speaking on local TV on Wednesday, branded the protesters "outlaws and bandits", a label that did not sit easily with the masses.

Speaking to the press yesterday after an extraordinary session of the ministerial council, Mozambique's cabinet equivalent, spokesman Alberto Nkutumula, insisted that the price hikes were "irreversible".

What options then does the government have?

A local taxi driver, Gabriel Macuacua, believes that the first step would be for the government to start speaking to its citizens. "They have not done anything. They have not answered any of the strikers' demands," Mr Macuacua told Business Day. "They must come out and listen to the people." Mr Macuacua says the strike will stop once the government has promised a decrease in the prices of food, electricity and water.

But if price decreases are out of the question, then what policy options are on the table? This week, the government released several statements and staged a presidential address that emphasised its programmes to battle poverty. These promises ring hollow for many of Maputo's residents.

The United Nations put Mozambique's gross domestic product per capita in 2008 at just 439, as compared with SA's 5566 per head in the same year.

Fernando Veloso, director of local paper Canal de Mozambique, who has been watching the situation closely, says that people have been tolerant for years.

"Today, the people said what they feel about the government," he said on Wednesday. "And instead of answers, they stick their heads in the sand and send police to kill."

Continuing strike action in SA may have also inspired Mozambicans to action. But Mr Veloso warns of drawing too many parallels.

"In SA, it is different. People are asking for more money. Here, people are starving."

Yesterday afternoon, thick smoke still hung in the air over much of Maputo's suburbs, and ambulance sirens continued to pierce the air. Roads remained barricaded by burning rubbish and tyres, and heavily armed police were an ominous presence throughout the city.

Although some people had begun returning to work, many still felt their grievances had not been heard. Shops remained closed and many areas of the city were still combat zones, with protesters hiding from police trucks as they drove past.

Until poverty alleviation in the country is acknowledged and addressed, there will be little peace for this formerly war-torn country.

Although violent strike action may end, discontent will remain.