(Adds reporting credit)
* Panicked shoppers try to stock up during coronavirus
crisis
* Cases rising on world's least developed continent
* Food prices rise in some markets, but Rwanda imposes
controls
* Panic-buying and queues from Kenya to South Africa
By Clement Uwiringiyimana
KIGALI, March 17 (Reuters) - Alarmed consumers thronged
markets across Africa on Tuesday, many in masks and gloves, to
stock up as the coronavirus spread on the world's poorest
continent.
Prices rose in some parts, though at least one country,
Rwanda, sought to control costs of staple foods.
"It is as if people are preparing for war," said an
astonished shopkeeper as Rwandans clamoured for rice, cooking
oil, sugar and flour at a market in the capital Kigali.
"Prices have gone up - but still they buy."
Initially spared as the coronavirus battered China and then
spread out, Africa has seen a rush of cases this month and
governments are taking drastic measures to curb its spread.
At least 30 African nations have now reported more than 400
cases, seven in Rwanda.
For many poorer Africans, panic-buying was a privilege they
could not afford.
"Rich people are not afraid of high prices. They are buying
in huge quantities," said 43-year-old Pascal Murengezi, a
father-of-three hawking second hand clothes outside the
Nyarugenge market in Kigali who said he could not afford more
than a day's worth of food.
"If the outbreak continues, I don't know how I will sell
clothes on empty streets."
The shopkeeper, who declined to give his name fearing a
visit from inspectors, said Tanzanian rice had risen from 27,000
francs ($29) to 30,000 francs per 25 kg bag while Pakistani rice
was up from 22,000 francs to 28,000 francs.
Speaking as shoppers in masks and gloves picked over items,
he blamed wholesalers for the increases.
The trade ministry in Rwanda fixed prices late on Monday for
17 food items including rice, sugar and cooking oil. It did not
specify punishments for price-gouging.
Exasperated by the rises, Beatrice, a 52-year-old Rwandan
with a child and no job, said she could only buy a minimum of
rice. "You can't see your children go hungry," she said. "We
don't know when this coronavirus will stop. If I had enough
money, I would buy a lot more food."
SUPERMARKET SAYS SORRY
Kenya, East Africa's economic powerhouse, also saw a rush on
shops after reporting its first coronavirus case on Friday.
Within minutes, shoppers at the upscale Carrefour supermarket
near the United Nations complex in Nairobi began piling trolleys
with wipes, sanitizer, and staples like rice and long-life milk.
Tusky's, another Kenyan supermarket, urged customers not to
panic and this week launched a home delivery service.
Like Rwanda, Kenya stepped in to try and curb price rises.
Its Competition Authority ordered another chain, Cleanshelf
Supermarkets, to refund customers for overpricing hand
sanitizers. The firm blamed one staff member for making
unauthorised price increases.
"The recent experience is unjustifiable and we are very
sorry," said Veronica Wambui, head of sales and marketing, in a
statement the company posted on Twitter.
From South Africa to Senegal, long lines snaked outside
stores as families stocked up on items such as disinfectants and
pasta.
"This is crazy. There's almost nothing on the shelves," said
68-year-old pensioner Barbara Ollerman, stacking rice in her
trolley in Johannesburg's Woolworths.
Auditor Sihle Qalinge at Checkers supermarket nearby said
she had sneaked out of work to buy toilet paper - she had been
trying to find it since Sunday.
Anna, the manager at Auchan supermarket in Dakar's upmarket
Mermoz area, said sales had doubled since last weekend. Hand
sanitizer had run out and suppliers were struggling to fulfil
orders, she said.
"The most sold items are pasta - people have taken
everything!" she said, adding that prices remained the same,
even though many desperate shoppers were not checking.
($1 = 943.7830 Rwandan francs)