Bangladesh's Starving Loot Rotten Rice

(26 Apr 08 - RV) Bangladesh deployed troops at a dumping site near the country's main Chittagong port today to stop poor people from collecting rotten rice.


Hundreds of poor people thronged the dumping site as the Food Department started ditching some 500 tonnes of damaged rice yesterday.


Meanwhile, rampaging Bengali settlers have razed seven tribal villages to the ground in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts region.


The villages belonged to the Jumma tribal people who were attacked after the Bangladesh army began a new settlement programme for non-tribal people in the Sajek area.


The Bishop of Chittagong is Patrick Di Rosario says that radical groups and their attempts to undermine basic human rights is the root cause of social unrest.