WONG:

Officials in southern Haiti say at least people are dead after demonstrations against rising food prices turned into riots. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is calling on the international community and Haiti's leaders to keep up their efforts to bring stability to the country.

STORY:

Scores of Haitians rioted in the southern town of Les Cayes, blocking roads and looting stores.

Some also fired shots at UN peace-keepers and they fired back in response.

Haitians have been staging sporadic protests against the soaring cost of food for two days running.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and prices for the basics - rice, beans and fruit - have rising by 50 per cent in the last year.

[Jean Marie, Student]:

"The government does not understand anything about the people. They do not listen to the people, all they do is manage the game of politics. First, it was about corruption, then about double nationality and now again about corruption... We want them to know we understand the game the government's playing; all we ask is to bring down food prices."

Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis condemned the violence but said drug dealers had manipulated the demonstrations.

[Jacques Edouard Alexis, Haitian Prime Minister]: