Southeast Asia to cooperate over food security

Southeast Asia nations meeting in Bali have agreed to cooperate over the rice market, Malaysia's trade minister said on Saturday, as rocketing prices shock a region where the grain is a core part of most meals.

The issue of food security has hijacked the weekend trade meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the Indonesian resort island.

Malaysian Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told reporters that a statement due to be released on Saturday -- a day earlier than expected -- would include rice. Asked whether ASEAN members had agreed to cooperate over rice, he said: "Yes, yes," without elaborating.

Asian rice prices have almost trebled this year.

Countries including India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brazil have imposed curbs on food exports in a bid to secure domestic supplies and limit inflation.

In Washington, the African Development Bank pledged $1 billion (507 million pounds) more for food aid on Friday and urged grain-exporting countries not to restrict shipments.

Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan said on Friday that farmers in Africa could double food output in five to 10 years if rich countries partner them in a "Green Revolution" for a long-term solution to the continent's food crisis,

Annan, who led a meeting of agriculture experts in Salzburg, said in a teleconference call that major funding in the short, medium and long term was required to offset the impact on the world's poorest continent of the sharp price hikes for essential food and fuel.

Humanitarian aid could only be the first step of a longer-term strategy which should seek "to enable African farmers to dramatically increase their output so that Africa can feed itself and not be dependent on food aid".

"MASSIVE VIOLATION" OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The World Food Programme has described soaring food prices as a "silent tsunami" that threatens to plunge more than 100 million people from every continent into poverty.

The new U.N. food envoy on Friday sought a special meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council this month to address a global food crisis he said was a "massive violation" of human rights.

Olivier De Schutter said he wanted the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to hold a special session around May 22 or 23 to complement efforts by other international agencies to tackle the crisis and to establish it as a human rights issue.

"If we had 100 million persons arrested in a dictatorial regime, if we had 100 million persons beaten up by police, of course we'd be marching in the streets and we'd be convening special sessions," De Schutter said at a news conference.

Protests, strikes and riots have erupted in developing countries around the world after dramatic rises in the prices of wheat, rice, corn, oils and other essential foods that have made it difficult for poor people to make ends meet.

U.S. President George W. Bush proposed this week $770 million in new U.S. food aid to stave off the crisis, pledging Washington would take the lead in combating global hunger.

Bush said on Friday that food prices have been rising as a result of soaring energy prices but the use of corn-based ethanol is not the main driver behind rising prices at the supermarket.