Mozambique markets struggle as vote protests hit imports

Maputo's normally bustling markets are emptier than usual with the stalls for staples such as potatoes and onions nearly bare and traders anxious as two months of post-election unrest regularly blocks imports from South Africa. Protests over Mozambique's disputed election result -- which have killed more than 100 people, according to civil society groups -- have snarled up the city centre with barricades. They have also hit the main border with South Africa, a vital import route where intermittent shutdowns over the past weeks have put pressure on the economies of both countries. Fresh potatoes, carrots, onions and other produce brought in from South Africa are almost impossible to find in the markets. Mounds of rotten potatoes, caught up in days of delays in temperatures that can top 40 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit), lie stinking and rejected. "It was about 100 trucks on the other side of South Africa that could not enter (Mozambique) in time," said Siudecar Novela, ...