How war in Ukraine fuels a food crisis in Africa

Name: Mass graves dug in besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol as locals bury their dead
Uploaded: 2022-03-24T03:00:25.000Z
Duration: 2 min 31 s
Description: Mass graves dug in besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol as locals bury their dead

The continent relies heavily on Russian and Ukrainian exports, but Russia’s invasion and resulting sanctions have disrupted supply and pushed up prices

Wheat, corn, sunflower oil and fertiliser are among the products affected, along with oil, compounding the impact of political instability and drought

5-MIN READ5-MIN

Jevans Nyabiage

Published: 11:00am, 24 Mar 2022Updated: 5:09pm, 24 Mar 2022

Bread is a staple food for tens of millions of Egyptians. So much so that any shortage of it can be a major political issue and cause social upheaval.

It was soaring prices during a global food crisis that led to protests in Egypt in 2007-08, and later reportedly helped to spark the 2011 Arab spring uprising in the country, which led to the ousting of its president of three decades, Hosni Mubarak.

These events were not without precedent. The Egyptian bread riots of 1977 had occurred when Anwar el-Sadat, the president at the time, ended food subsidies, prompting protests and eventually the reinstatement of the subsidies.

Now there is a new threat: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It may be happening far from Africa, but the impact of the war is being felt across the continent, from Cairo to Nairobi.

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Mass graves dug in besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol as locals bury their dead

Egypt had been getting the vast majority of its wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine, but the flow of commodities has been disrupted by the chaos of the war – both the conflict itself and sanctions against Russia that prevent cargo containing its exports passing through ports as it normally would.

Well aware of the importance of bread and the unrest that reduced supply of it can provoke, the Egyptian authorities have taken swift action. This has included ensuring that the country keeps its subsidising of bread in place, despite previous pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to drop it.