The Zimbabwean government has ordered the reversal of a 21% rise in the price of the staple maize meal, just hours after violent clashes in the capital, Harare.

Ministers also said they will review all recent price rises in basic foodstuffs. The latest Maize price rise followed less than a fortnight after increases of between 17% and 42% in the price of basic commodities.

The government has accused businessmen of raising prices in retaliation for its plans to takeover some white-owned farms.

Food manufacturers and retailers blame the massive increases on the steep fall of the Zimbabwe dollar against hard currencies and increased input costs in the last quarter of 1997.

Capital brought to a standstill

Earlier, hundreds of Zimbabweans took to the streets of Harare to protest at escalating prices.

The BBC's Ian Mills in Harare:"People are getting to the end of their tether"

Riot police used tear gas and erected roadblocks to try to stop the flow of protestors entering the city from surrounding townships.

Stones were thrown at motorists and some stores and offices closed. Sources in President Robert Mugabe's administration said the government had responded quickly by scrapping the maize price rise because it "feared" the riots could get out of hand.

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange suspended trade because the protests prevented some brokers from reaching the exchange. The wave of violent protests was the second since December, when President Mugabe was forced to scrap a tax package after an unprecedented nationwide anti-tax protest.
 

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