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them to it.”</h2> <div id="search"><form method="get" id="searchform" action="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/"> <div><input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s"/> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search"/> </div> </form> </div> </div> <hr/> <div id="content" class="span-13 append-1"> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-13625"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/05/international-committee-of-the-red-cross-iraq-activities-update/#comments" title="Comment on International Committee Of The Red Cross: Iraq Activities Update">1 Comment</a></span> Posted on July 5th, 2011 by Burhan Aydin</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/05/international-committee-of-the-red-cross-iraq-activities-update/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to International Committee Of The Red Cross: Iraq Activities Update">International Committee Of The Red Cross: Iraq Activities Update</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/iraq/" title="View all posts in News" rel="category tag">News</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/1990-1991-gulf-war/" rel="tag">1990-1991 Gulf War</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/abu-ghraib/" rel="tag">Abu Ghraib</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-rashad/" rel="tag">al Rashad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-khadra/" rel="tag">al-Khadra</a>, <a 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Clearance</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/missing-persons/" rel="tag">missing persons</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/nahrawan/" rel="tag">Nahrawan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/najaf/" rel="tag">Najaf</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/northern-iraq/" rel="tag">northern iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/occupation/" rel="tag">occupation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/prisoners/" rel="tag">prisoners</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rainfall/" rel="tag">rainfall</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/red-cross-messages/" rel="tag">Red Cross messages</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/refugees/" rel="tag">Refugees</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rehabilitation/" rel="tag">rehabilitation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/resources/" rel="tag">Resources</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rice/" rel="tag">rice</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rural-areas/" rel="tag">rural areas</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sadr-city/" rel="tag">Sadr City</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/salah-al-din/" rel="tag">Salah al-Din</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sanitation/" rel="tag">sanitation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/shirqat/" rel="tag">Shirqat</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/statistics/" rel="tag">statistics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/students/" rel="tag">Students</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkey/" rel="tag">Turkey</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/violence/" rel="tag">violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/wasit/" rel="tag">Wasit</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-purification/" rel="tag">water purification</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply/" rel="tag">water supply</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-treatment/" rel="tag">water treatment</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/zaidan/" rel="tag">Zaidan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/zubair/" rel="tag">Zubair</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div style="text-align: left; unicode-bidi: bidi-override; direction: ltr"> <p>Three decades of conflict have left hundreds of thousands of families struggling to find out what happened to their missing loved ones. Abandoning the search is not an option. Since 1980, the ICRC has spared no effort to put an end to their anguish. Operational update, March-May 2011. </p> <p>"Iraq is currently one of the countries with the highest number of missing persons and, as a result, with the highest number of families seeking information on their missing relatives," said ‘Dika Dulic’, the ICRC delegate in charge of issues relating to missing persons in Iraq. A lack of clear statistics, however, makes it difficult to accurately establish the true size of the problem.</p> <div style="border-bottom: black 1px solid; border-left: black 1px solid; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; padding-left: 5px; width: 48%; padding-right: 5px; float: right; border-top: black 1px solid; border-right: black 1px solid; padding-top: 5px"> <h3>How do I report my relative as a missing person?</h3> <p>The Ministry of Human Rights is responsible for collecting information about any person reported missing in connection with armed conflict or internal violence. The ministry has offices in each Iraqi governorate. In northern Iraq, the Ministry of Anfal is in charge of this issue.</p> <p>The Department for missing persons, prisoners of war and human remains has two hotline numbers: <br/>+964 781 375 7020 <br/>+964 781 375 7021 <br/>and can also be contacted by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/mailto:d.mom-mhr@humanrights.gov.iq">e-mail</a></p> <p>Information provided by Basra’s Al-Zubair Centre on soldiers exhumed or otherwise known to be dead can be found on the Ministry of Human Rights website: <br/><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.humanrights.gov.iq /">www.humanrights.gov.iq</a>  You can also contact Al Zubair Centre directly.</p> <p>If you believe that one of your relatives has been killed, you can contact Baghdad’s Medico-Legal Institute by telephone: <br/>+964 78 137 57 655 or by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/mailto:mli_bag41@yahoo.com">e-mail</a></p> <p>In an effort to alleviate the agony of those still waiting for news, the ICRC, in its role as a neutral intermediary, facilitates dialogue between the parties involved in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War and in the 1990-1991 Gulf War, who have an obligation under international humanitarian law to account for those who went missing.Baghdad resident Hayat has led a sad life since her husband disappeared on 8 April 2003. "I lost hope," she said. "In the past nine years I have searched every prison. I ended up convincing myself that my husband Abdallah must have died."</p> <p>In an effort to alleviate the agony of those still waiting for news, the ICRC, in its role as a neutral intermediary, facilitates dialogue between the parties involved in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War and in the 1990-1991 Gulf War, who have an obligation under international humanitarian law to account for those who went missing.</p> </p></div> <p>Baghdad resident Hayat has led a sad life since her husband disappeared on 8 April 2003. "I lost hope," she said. "In the past nine years I have searched every prison. I ended up convincing myself that my husband Abdallah must have died."</p> <p>In April, the remains of 17 Iranian soldiers killed in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War were handed over from the Iraqi to the Iranian authorities under ICRC auspices at the Shalamja border crossing, near Basra.</p> <p>As a neutral intermediary, the ICRC facilitates the dialogue between the parties who were involved in the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf war and who carry the responsibility to clarify the fate of persons still unaccounted for. This includes: <br/>supporting authorities in the collection of information <br/>facilitating transmission of information between the parties chairing meetings <br/>facilitating joint missions in the field and the handover of human remains</p> <p>The ICRC continues to provide training and other support for the Ministry of Human Rights, Basra’s Al-Zubair Centre of Iraq and Baghdad’s Medical-Legal Institute.</p> <h4>Bringing aid to people facing hardship</h4> <p>Many people in Iraq are still struggling to earn a living and support their families. Between March and May, the ICRC:</p> <p>Distributed over 8 million Iraqi Dinars through cash-for-work scheme, to 450 vulnerable displaced people and residents of Deralok in Dohuk governorate; <br/>Awarded 108 grants to disabled people and women-headed households in Ninawa, Kirkuk, Basra, Missan, Erbil, Baghdad and Sulaimaniya, enabling them to start small businesses and regain economic self-sufficiency. <br/>Distributed individual food and hygiene parcels, including essential household items, to 2475 internally displaced households, benefiting some 14850 people, in the group settlements of Ninawa, Kirkuk and Wasit;</p> <p>Following heavy rainfalls and consequential flooding in Ninawa, Erbil and Salah Al-Din governorates in April, the ICRC assisted affected/displaced households, distributing: 4984 blankets, 634 towels, 1340 hygiene parcels, 1315 tarpaulins, 317 kitchen sets, <br/>763 food parcels, and 11.1 metric tons of rice. The ICRC assistance also reached families affected by the floods in Rabea and Baaj districts.</p> <h4>Assisting health-care facilities</h4> </p></div> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/05/international-committee-of-the-red-cross-iraq-activities-update/#more-13625" class="more-link">» أقرأ التفاصيل .. | Read the rest of this entry »</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12918"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/04/01/iraq-women-struggle-to-make-ends-meet/#respond" title="Comment on Iraq: women struggle to make ends meet">No Comments</a></span> Posted on April 1st, 2011 by Harith</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/04/01/iraq-women-struggle-to-make-ends-meet/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Iraq: women struggle to make ends meet">Iraq: women struggle to make ends meet</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/iraq/" title="View all posts in News" rel="category tag">News</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/1990-1991-gulf-war/" rel="tag">1990-1991 Gulf War</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/abu-ghraib/" rel="tag">Abu Ghraib</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/basra/" rel="tag">Basra</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/children/" rel="tag">Children</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/detainees/" rel="tag">detainees</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/detention-facilities/" rel="tag">detention facilities</a>, <a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/red-cross-messages/" rel="tag">Red Cross messages</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/resources/" rel="tag">Resources</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sadr-city/" rel="tag">Sadr City</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/salah-al-din/" rel="tag">Salah al-Din</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/shirqat/" rel="tag">Shirqat</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/social-welfare/" rel="tag">social welfare</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/students/" rel="tag">Students</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sulaimaniya/" rel="tag">Sulaimaniya</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d9%85%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">مدينة الصدر‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-storage/" rel="tag">Water storage</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply/" rel="tag">water supply</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-treatment/" rel="tag">water treatment</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-treatment-plants/" rel="tag">water treatment plants</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-poverty-of/" rel="tag">women - poverty of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-and-war/" rel="tag">women and war</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/womens-rights/" rel="tag">Women's Rights</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%ac%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a8-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%87%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%b1/" rel="tag">جمعية الصليب والهلال الاحمر</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>Iraqi women have repeatedly been victims of armed conflict in recent decades. Today, as their dependence on a crumbling social structure grows, many find themselves struggling to make ends meet. The ICRC is helping them get back on their feet.</p> <p>A great many women in Iraq are facing challenges in the task of caring for their families, earning income and taking part in community and professional life. Since widespread violence erupted in 2003, they have been increasingly caught in the crossfire, killed, wounded or driven from their homes. As their menfolk have been killed or taken away in large numbers, the entire burden of running the household has been suddenly thrust upon them.</p> <p>"Regardless of the circumstance of loss, the mere fact that there is no traditional breadwinner directly affects the family’s financial situation," said Caroline Douilliez, head of the ICRC’s Women and War programme in Iraq. "The ICRC’s observations across Iraq have led us to the distressing conclusion that the lack of regular and sufficient income over the years has cast a huge number of families into severe poverty."</p> <div style="border-right: black 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: black 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; border-left: black 1px solid; width: 300px; padding-top: 5px; border-bottom: black 1px solid"> <p>30-03-2011 Operational Update </p> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/2011/iraq-update-01-02-2011-icrc-eng.pdf" target="_blank" class="external"><strong>Download full document: "Iraq: women struggle to make ends meet"</strong></a> PDF 368 KB </li> </ul></div> <p>According to ICRC estimates, between one and two million households in Iraq today are headed by women. This figure includes women whose husbands are either dead, missing (some since as far back as 1980) or detained. Divorced women are also taken into account. All these women were wives at one time, and today remain mothers to their children and daughters to their parents, and sometimes ultimately breadwinners and caregivers for all these people. Without a male relative, they lack economic, physical and social protection and support. Often they struggle with harrowing memories of the circumstance of death or disappearance of their husband. Displaced women face the added challenge of coping with the loss of a home that they had to leave because of threats to their safety, or for lack of income.</p> <p>"With no job opportunities, with no help from relatives themselves too poor to provide it, and with no assistance from the State social-security system, these women’s daily struggle revolves around putting food on the table and paying for shelter, schooling and medical care," said Ms Douilliez. "Sometimes their only option is to take their young boys out of school and send them out to earn a few dinars for the family. As a result, future generations pay the price of today’s difficult times. Without a proper education, today’s youth will not be equipped to face their own challenges once they have families of their own."</p> <p>In response to this emergency, the ICRC has launched programmes aimed specifically to assist women heading households alone. Since 2008, the organization has focused on finding ways to help women attain self-sufficiency.</p> <p>At the same time, the ICRC closely monitors the effects of efforts made by the State to improve social-welfare benefits for women facing particular hardship. The ICRC can attest to the struggle required to increase budgetary allocations and other resources for this vulnerable group. Ms Douilliez stresses the scale of the problem and the need for a comprehensive approach by the Iraqi government.</p> <p>The ICRC is engaged in dialogue with parliamentarians and other central and provincial policy-makers to ensure that the social-welfare system for vulnerable women receives the resources it needs.</p> <p><b>Assistance:</b> Between 2009 and 2010 the ICRC assisted around 4,000 women heading households who have been displaced from their homes. Food parcels and hygiene items were distributed to women in Baghdad, Diyala and Ninawa governorates.</p> <p><b>Micro-economic initiatives:</b> The ICRC provides in-kind grants to help finance income-generating projects. The grants are extended to women who are willing and able to run such projects, which are often home-based businesses such as small shops, trade projects or food production. The projects, which have been initiated in Najaf, Basra, Missan and Baghdad since 2009, are conducted in partnership with local NGOs and monitored for several months to ensure sustainability.</p> <p><b>Social welfare benefits:</b> The ICRC, working in partnership with local NGOs, helps women handle the formalities associated with applying for social-welfare benefits. As the cost of travel to gather documents is high, especially for women who have very limited resources, it reimburses the travel expenses incurred by women in Baghdad, Anbar, Basra and Missan who have not previously applied for the allowance. In addition, the ICRC has provided the agency in charge of administering the benefit with technical support.</p> <h4>Bringing aid to people facing hardship</h4> <p>The ICRC has maintained its support for people struggling to earn a living, such as women heading households, people with disabilities and the displaced. During the months of January and February, the ICRC:</p> <ul> <li>provided emergency winter assistance for more than 44,000 displaced people in Ninawa, Kirkuk, Diyala, Baghdad, Wassit, Babil, Anbar, Salah Al-Din, Dohuk and Sulaimaniya; </li> <li>awarded 82 grants to disabled people and women heading households in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Ninawa, Sulaimaniya and Erbil to enable them to start small businesses and regain economic self-sufficiency. Around 900 households headed by women and the disabled have received such assistance since 2008. The grants have benefited over 5,000 people. </li> </ul> <h4>Assisting hospitals and physical rehabilitation centres</h4> <p>Because health-care services in some rural and conflict-prone areas are still struggling to meet the needs of the civilian population, the ICRC continues to help renovate the premises of health-care facilities and train staff. To help disabled people reintegrate into the community, the ICRC also continues to provide limb-fitting and physical rehabilitation services. In January and February:</p> <ul> <li>192 new patients were fitted with prostheses and 1,010 with orthoses at 10 ICRC-supported centres throughout Iraq; </li> <li>17 doctors and 44 nurses took part in a course on emergency services given in Sulaimaniya and Najaf for medical personnel from Koya, Erbil, Dohuk, Khanaqin, Sulaimaniya, Kirkuk, Babil, Muthanna, Diwaniya, Kerbala and Najaf. </li> </ul> <p>In 2010 the ICRC began providing on-site support for eight primary health-care centres in Diyala, Ninawa, Kirkuk, Babil and Diwaniya. By agreement with the local authorities, the ICRC visits the centres on a regular basis to maintain and, where necessary, upgrade water supply networks. The ICRC also provides advice for emergency stabilization and referral services. In addition, it helps local health administrations to ensure that stocks of medicines and vaccines are adequate and that these items are always readily available.</p> <p>Over 280,000 people, including internally displaced people, now have better access to basic health-care and emergency services in the eight primary health-care centres. By mid-2010, the ICRC was providing the centres with enhanced support for various services. Local health authorities appointed additional female doctors to work in some facilities and provided additional ambulances and beds.</p> <h4>Providing clean water and sanitation</h4> <p>Access to clean water remains difficult in much of Iraq. ICRC engineers continue to repair and upgrade water, electrical and sanitary facilities, especially in places where violence remains a concern and in rural areas to improve the quality of services provided in communities and health-care facilities. In January and February, these activities included:</p> <h5>Emergency assistance:</h5> <p>The ICRC delivered water by truck:</p> <ul> <li>to al-Sadr City (sectors 52 and 53), Husseinia and Ma’amil area in Baghdad governorate to over 4,840 internally displaced people; </li> <li>to al-Zeidan primary health-care centre in Abu Ghraib, Baghdad governorate. </li> </ul> <h5>Support for health-care facilities:</h5> <p>The ICRC completed the following works:</p> <ul> <li>upgrading the water storage capacity in al-Shirqat General Hospital (100-bed capacity) in Salah al-Din governorate; </li> <li>renovation of the sanitary facilities in three buildings (Zainab, al Kindy and al Razi) in al- Rashad Psychiatric Hospital Phase 2 Stage 2 (1,300-bed capacity) in Baghdad governorate; </li> <li>renovation of a primary health-care centre in al-Sadr City (300 patients per day) in Baghdad governorate. The area served by the centre has a population of 50,000; </li> <li>installation of specialized equipment in al-Sadr Teaching Hospital (200 bed capacity), Najaf governorate. </li> </ul> <h5>Drinking-water supply:</h5> <p>The ICRC completed 10 main projects benefiting over 612,250 people throughout the country:</p> <ul> <li>renovation of Qaim water treatment plant in Anbar governorate, serving about 170,000 people; </li> <li>renovation of a compact unit in Za’faraniya, Baghdad governorate, serving about 200,000 people; </li> <li>transfer and reinstallation of a compact unit from al-Quds to al-Rasheed in Baghdad governorate, serving about 15,000 people; </li> <li>upgrade of five compact units in Abu Ghraib district, Baghdad governorate, serving about 74,000 people; </li> <li>renovation of a compact unit in al-Shirqat, Salah al-Din governorate, serving about 20,000 people; </li> <li>renovation of a compact unit in Diyala governorate serving about 40,000 people; </li> <li>supply of a generator for Mendili and Qaratapa water treatment plants in Diyala governorate, serving about 42,000 people; </li> <li>upgrade of water supply system in Qosh villages, in Ninawa, serving about 45,000 people; </li> <li>upgrade of water supply system in Khanaqin, Diyala governorate, serving about 6,000 people; </li> <li>renovation of a compact unit in Missan governorate serving about 250 people. </li> </ul> <h5>Renovation of infrastructure in places of detention:</h5> <p>● electro-mechanical works completed in Kadhimiya maximum security prison in Baghdad governorate; <br/>● improvement of the women’s yard in Hilla Prison (No. 2), Babil governorate, serving about 50 detainees.</p> <h4>Visiting detainees</h4> <p>In January and February, ICRC delegates visited detainees held by the Iraqi Correctional Service under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, various branches of the Kurdish Regional Government and the United States government in 27 places of detention in 14 governorates. The delegates monitored the conditions in which detainees were being held and the treatment they received.</p> <p>The ICRC shared its observations and recommendations with the detaining authorities with a view to bringing about improvements where needed.</p> <p>In some of the places of detention, the ICRC gave detainees mattresses, blankets and recreational items such as books and games.</p> <p>The ICRC makes a special effort to restore and maintain ties between people held in detention facilities and their loved ones. In January and February over 350 Red Cross messages were exchanged between detainees and their families in Iraq and abroad. The ICRC also responded to over 750 enquiries from families seeking information on detained relatives or requesting other types of information, for instance on missing relatives. In addition, in Iraq, Iran and Kuwait, the ICRC issued close to 1,000 certificates of detention to former detainees and prisoners of war from previous international armed conflicts. The voluntary repatriation of two released detainees took place under the auspices of the ICRC. The organization also issued travel documents to 13 persons, mainly refugees, to enable them to resettle abroad. In February, the ICRC made arrangements for a three-day visit for seven Iraqi families (19 persons) to visit their loved ones detained in Kuwait Central Prison.</p> <h4>Clarifying the fate of missing people</h4> <p>During the months of January and February, the ICRC, in its role as a neutral intermediary, chaired a meeting between Iraq and Iran during which joint field work undertaken with a view to recovering the remains of soldiers killed during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War was discussed. It also chaired one meeting of the Technical Sub-Committee dealing with missing persons from the 1990-1991 Gulf War, and participated in technical meetings with the parties concerned with a view to preparing joint field exhumations.</p> <p>The mortal remains of 38 persons, presumed to be Iraqi soldiers killed during the Iran-Iraq War, were handed over by the Iranian to the Iraqi authorities under ICRC auspices.</p> <p>The ICRC continued to provide the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights and Baghdad’s Medical-Legal Institute with the technical support they require to exchange information and build up their capacity in the area of forensics. In January, the ICRC provided training in forensic anthropology for 27 members of the Medico-Legal Institute.</p> <h4>Promoting compliance with international humanitarian law</h4> <p>Reminding parties to a conflict of their obligation to protect civilians is a fundamental part of the ICRC’s work. The organization also endeavours to spread knowledge of international humanitarian law by organizing presentations for various audiences, including military personnel, prison staff, students and professors.</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/2011/iraq-update-2011-03-30.htm" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq: women struggle to make ends meet</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11826"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/11/30/iraq-civilians-still-suffering-undue-hardship/#respond" title="Comment on Iraq: civilians still suffering undue hardship">No Comments</a></span> Posted on November 30th, 2010 by Abdus-Samad</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/11/30/iraq-civilians-still-suffering-undue-hardship/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/hygiene/" rel="tag">hygiene</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/hygiene-kits/" rel="tag">hygiene kits</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/icrc/" rel="tag">ICRC</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/imam-ali-general-hospital/" rel="tag">Imam Ali General Hospital</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/indiscriminate-attacks-against-civilians/" rel="tag">indiscriminate attacks against civilians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/international-federation-of-red-cross/" rel="tag">international federation of red cross</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/international-federation-of-red-cross-and-red-crescent/" rel="tag">International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/international-humanitarian-law/" rel="tag">international humanitarian law</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iran-iraq-war/" rel="tag">Iran-Iraq War</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/irrigation/" rel="tag">irrigation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/italy/" rel="tag">Italy</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kerbala/" rel="tag">kerbala</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/khalis/" rel="tag">Khalis</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kirkuk/" rel="tag">Kirkuk</a>, <a 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rel="tag">Resources</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rules-of-engagement/" rel="tag">rules of engagement</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rural-areas/" rel="tag">rural areas</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sadr-city/" rel="tag">Sadr City</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/salah/" rel="tag">Salah</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sanitation/" rel="tag">sanitation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/security/" rel="tag">Security</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/security-environment/" rel="tag">security environment</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/security-forces/" rel="tag">security forces</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/security-situation/" rel="tag">security situation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sheep/" rel="tag">sheep</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/situation-in-iraq/" rel="tag">situation in iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/students/" rel="tag">Students</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sulaimaniya/" rel="tag">Sulaimaniya</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tarmiya/" rel="tag">Tarmiya</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tarmiyah/" rel="tag">Tarmiyah</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tripartite-commission/" rel="tag">Tripartite Commission</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d9%85%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">مدينة الصدر‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/vice/" rel="tag">Vice</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-purification/" rel="tag">water purification</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-shortage/" rel="tag">water shortage</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-shortages/" rel="tag">Water Shortages</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply/" rel="tag">water supply</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/wheat/" rel="tag">wheat</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-and-children/" rel="tag">Women and Children</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%ac%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a8-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%87%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%b1/" rel="tag">جمعية الصليب والهلال الاحمر</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>The persistent lack of security is hampering efforts to provide essential services for civilians. The ICRC is doing its utmost to help meet the most pressing needs. This is an update on these and other <span style="border-right: black 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: black 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; border-left: black 1px solid; width: 300px; padding-top: 5px; border-bottom: black 1px solid"><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/home!Open" target="_blank" class="external">ICRC</a> 30-11-2010 <a title="Operational Update" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/2010/irak-update-2010-11-30.htm" class="external" target="_blank">Operational Update</a></strong> </span>ICRC activities carried out in Iraq in September and October.</p> <p>Despite improvements in the security situation achieved over the years in many parts of Iraq, ongoing violence continues to claim the lives of hundreds of men, women and children every month, and to have a serious impact on the lives of many more.</p> <p>Over the past year, the lives of many Iraqi civilians have not changed for the better. Civilians continue to carry the heaviest burden amid the widespread violence. They are still the main victims of the indiscriminate attacks and mass explosions that have taken place in cities such as Baghdad, Ninewa, Diyala, Anbar, Najaf, Kerbala and Basra, and that have left, on average, hundreds of people wounded or dead each month this year.</p> <p>"Indiscriminate attacks against civilians inflict tremendous suffering. They are clearly unacceptable. They are contrary to international humanitarian law and to the most basic principles of humanity," said Magne Barth, head of the ICRC delegation in Iraq. "Civilians must be protected against violence, as must be medical personnel and facilities".</p> <p>The humanitarian situation in Iraq remains serious. Iraqis are filled with anxiety and uncertainty about what the future holds. Vulnerable people, such as women heading households, disabled people and detainees, continue to depend to some extent on outside help to meet basic needs.</p> <p>The persistent lack of security and wanton violence have had a considerable effect on the feasibility of providing essential services for the population. The ICRC is doing its utmost to help meet the most pressing needs, especially in rural areas and in the places hardest hit by the conflict and other violence. ICRC activities aim primarily at ensuring that people have access to adequate health, water and sanitation services, and at helping the destitute and other needy people.</p> <p>Visits to detainees held under Iraqi, Kurdistan Regional Government and USF-I authority remain a priority for the ICRC. "Ensuring that detainees are treated humanely and are held in conditions that respect their dignity has been our constant concern since we started working in Iraq 30 years ago," said Mr Barth.</p> <p>The ICRC continues to speak out about the plight of conflict victims in Iraq. It does so in dialogue with as many parties as possible that can influence the situation on the ground. Its aim is to bring about greater respect for civilians and detainees, and to ensure that unimpeded access is granted for humanitarian action to help the people in greatest need throughout the country.</p> <p>"The role of the ICRC, as an impartial humanitarian organization, is crucial to efforts to protect civilians from harm and to ensure that detainees are properly treated and held in decent conditions," said Mr Barth.</p> <p>In September and October 2010, in response to the unstable and often changing security environment, the ICRC made further adjustments to its working procedures so that it could continue to provide services to those who need them most.</p> <h4><b>Bringing aid to vulnerable people</b></h4> <p>The ICRC has maintained its support for people facing special difficulties earning a living and supporting their families, such as women heading households and people with disabilities. In September and October:</p> <ul> <li>hygiene kits and food parcels were provided for more than 5,600 people in the governorate of Mosul; </li> <li>emergency aid was provided for more than 170 displaced people in Sulaimaniya governorate; </li> <li>95 grants were made in Kirkuk, Ninewa, Dohuk, Sulaimaniya and Erbil governorates to enable disabled people to start small businesses and regain economic self-sufficiency. Around 700 disabled people have received such aid since 2008; </li> <li>the livestock of 731 needy farmers in the Kifri district of Diyala governorate were vaccinated; </li> <li>around 950 metric tonnes of wheat seed were delivered to some 3,800 farmers in the governorates of Diyala, Anbar, Salahadin, Baghdad and Babil to help them restore their food production; </li> <li>50 kilometres of irrigation canals serving over 7,000 people were cleaned and renovated in the Khalis and Kifri districts of Diyala governorate; </li> <li>600 sheep and 38 metric tonnes of fodder were distributed to 200 farmers in the Baaj district of Ninewa governorate. </li> </ul> <h4>Assisting hospitals and physical rehabilitation centres</h4> <p>In some rural and conflict-prone areas, health-care services are still struggling to meet the needs of the civilian population. The ICRC continues to help renovate the premises of health-care facilities and train staff. Limb-fitting and physical rehabilitation services are provided by the ICRC to help disabled people reintegrate into the community. In September and October:</p> <ul> <li>10 doctors and 28 nurses successfully took part in a course intended to strengthen emergency services given in Al Sadr Teaching Hospital in Najaf; </li> <li>273 new patients were fitted with prostheses and 1,148 new patients with orthoses at 10 ICRC-supported centres throughout Iraq. </li> </ul> <h4>Providing clean water and sanitation</h4> <p>Access to clean water remains difficult in much of Iraq. ICRC engineers continue to repair and upgrade water, electrical and sanitary facilities, especially in places where violence remains a concern and in rural areas, to improve the quality of services provided in communities and health-care facilities. In September and October, these activities included:</p> <h5>Emergency assistance:</h5> <p>The ICRC delivered water by truck:</p> <p>● in Zharawa district, Sadr City, Husseinia and Maamal to 6,384 internally displaced people; <br/>● to the 385-bed Al Imam Ali General Hospital; <br/>● to the 400-bed Al Kindy General Hospital in Baghdad, which was struggling to cope with summer water shortages.</p> <h5>Support for health-care facilities:</h5> <p>The ICRC completed work upgrading: <br/>● Tarmiyah General Hospital, which serves between 250 and 300 outpatients daily, in Baghdad governorate; <br/>● Tamour primary health-care centre, which serves 50 patients per day, in Kirkuk governorate.</p> <h5>Water supply in hospitals:</h5> <ul> <li>The ICRC completed the installation of drinking-water purification units in Baquba General Hospital, Muqdadiya General Hospital, Baladrooz General Hospital and Al Zahraa Maternity Hospital, with an overall capacity of 600 beds, in Diyala governorate. </li> </ul> <h5>Drinking-water supply:</h5> <ul> <li>Five main projects benefiting around 725,000 people were completed throughout the country. </li> </ul> <h4><b>Visiting detainees</b></h4> <p>ICRC delegates visit detainees in order to monitor the conditions in which they are being held and the treatment they receive. In all cases, the ICRC shares its findings and recommendations confidentially with the detaining authorities, with the aim of obtaining improvements where necessary.</p> <p>In September and October, the ICRC visited detainees held by the correctional service of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Defence and various Kurdish Regional Government authorities in places of detention in Basra, Thi Qar/Nasiriya, Baghdad, Babil, Kirkuk, Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniya governorates.</p> <p>In some of these places, to help the detaining authority improve conditions of detention, the ICRC gave detainees mattresses, blankets and recreational items such as books and games.</p> <p>The ICRC makes a special effort to restore and maintain ties between detainees and their families. In September and October, over 1,000 Red Cross messages were exchanged between detainees and their families in Iraq and abroad. The ICRC also responded to around 800 enquiries from families seeking information on detained relatives. In addition, it issued 249 certificates of detention to former detainees. The ICRC facilitated the voluntary repatriation of two released detainees, and issued two travel documents to refugees to enable them to resettle abroad.</p> <h4><b>Clarifying what happened to missing people</b></h4> <p>In its role as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC continues to chair the mechanisms set up to address the cases of people who went missing in connection with the 1990-1991 Gulf War. At the 67th session of the Technical Sub-Committee of the Tripartite Commission, held on 28 September in Kuwait, the members of the sub-committee reaffirmed their commitment to accounting for people who went missing in connection with the war. At the sub-committee’s next meeting, which will take place in Kuwait in November, preparations will be made for a joint field mission to the south of Iraq to check on suspected burial sites.</p> <p>On 27 and 28 October, representatives of Iran and Iraq held a high-level meeting in Geneva under ICRC auspices with the aim of determining what happened to people missing in connection with the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. The meeting was the first of its kind following the signature in October 2008 of a memorandum of understanding between Iran, Iraq and the ICRC aimed at expediting the search for information on people previously registered as, or presumed to be, prisoners of war and on others who have gone missing, and at identifying mortal remains.</p> <p>Relieving the suffering of the families of missing persons by clarifying what happened to their loved ones is one of the ICRC’s priorities. The ICRC continues to provide the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights and Baghdad’s Medical-Legal Institute with the technical support they require to exchange information and build up their capacity in the area of forensics.</p> <h4><b>Promoting international humanitarian law</b></h4> <p>Reminding parties to a conflict of their obligation to protect civilians is a fundamental part of the ICRC’s work. The organization also endeavours to promote international humanitarian law within civil society. In this framework, it organizes presentations for various audiences, which include military personnel, prison staff, students and professors.</p> <p>In September and October, information sessions on international humanitarian law were organized for members of the Iraqi Army, the Peshmerga forces and Assayesh security forces. In October, a "train-the-trainers" course was organized for 14 members of the Iraqi Centre for Military Values and Professional Leadership Development. One member of the Iraqi armed forces attended an advanced course on international humanitarian law at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy, and another attended a workshop on rules of engagement, also held in Italy.</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/2010/irak-update-2010-11-30.htm" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq: civilians still suffering undue hardship</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-10892"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/06/04/baghdad-urged-to-tackle-water-crisis/#respond" title="Comment on Baghdad Urged to Tackle Water Crisis">No Comments</a></span> Posted on June 4th, 2010 by Harith</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/06/04/baghdad-urged-to-tackle-water-crisis/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Baghdad Urged to Tackle Water Crisis">Baghdad Urged to Tackle Water Crisis</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/agricultural-land/" rel="tag">agricultural land</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad/" rel="tag">Baghdad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad-university/" rel="tag">Baghdad University</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/budget/" rel="tag">Budget</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/desert/" rel="tag">desert</a>, <a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-crisis/" rel="tag">Water Crisis</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-issue/" rel="tag">water issue</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-level/" rel="tag">water level</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-levels/" rel="tag">water levels</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-problems/" rel="tag">water problems</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-resource-management/" rel="tag">water resource management</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-resources/" rel="tag">water resources</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-rights/" rel="tag">water rights</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-scarcity/" rel="tag">water scarcity</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-shortage/" rel="tag">water shortage</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-shortages/" rel="tag">Water Shortages</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply/" rel="tag">water supply</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/wheat/" rel="tag">wheat</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p><em>UN report found that 100,000 Iraqis have fled their homes since 2005 due to water shortages.</em> </p> <p>Iraqis are calling on their incoming government to devote more energy to resolving the country’s chronic water problems, with some experts stating that water will be more important than oil in the long-term development of the county. </p> <p>Even as recent rains have brought some relief to drought-stricken Iraq, the historic problem of water scarcity has forced tens of thousands of rural Iraqis from their homes. The government estimates that nearly two million people face severe drinking water shortages and extremely limited electricity due to hydropower shortage. </p> <p>Meanwhile, diplomatic tensions are running high as promises from upriver counties such as Turkey, Syria and Iran to allow more water into Iraq appear not to have been met. This week, Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zebari denounced a plan by Syria to divert water from the Tigris river to irrigate some 200,000 acres of land as detrimental to Iraq’s future water supply. </p> <p>Iraq’s minister of electricity Kareem Waheed called Syria’s move a “shock” that would “embarrass” his ministry and undermine its commitments to hydropower. Both ministers decried Syria’s plan as a breach of international conventions on down-river water rights. </p> <p>“The next government will be challenged on the water issue and there is no option but to deal with it. I understand that Iraq faces more than one problem, but this one can’t be ignored. No matter what the government is focusing on, this problem will impose itself,” said Dr Awn Thiab al-Ajeli, the head of Iraq’s National Centre for Water Resource Management within the ministry of water resources. </p> <p>"The first step that should be made is to reach a deal with Turkey as well as Iran and Syria in order to have good, stable amounts of water enter to Iraq each day. The current situation is that the amount is good one day, and bad the next. To make this step, a deal must be made between governments, not just between two water ministries. It depends on the diplomatic relations between the two states," Ajeli said. </p> <p>Officials have said in the past security concerns have overshadowed the development of a forward-thinking water policy. With Iraq’s recent and relative stability, experts are now calling for a plan to tackle the water problems that have afflicted the country – from rising salinity in the southern marshland to the imminent demise of traditional irrigation systems, known as karez, in the north. </p> <p>A UNESCO report found that 100,000 Iraqis have fled their native communities since 2005 due to water shortages. </p> <p>Another United Nations report claims the water levels in the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, Iraq’s primary sources of water, have fallen by more than two-thirds. The report cautioned that the vital lifelines could completely dry up by 2040. </p> <p>“At the current rates, Iraq’s water supply will fall an estimated 43 billion cubic metres by 2015, far short of the 77 cubic metres that the country will need to avert a widespread humanitarian disaster,” the UN report read. </p> <p>According to UN research, “Inefficient irrigation, lack of government coordination and weak capacity to manage the resource has compounded the current shortage of water… After years of neglect during the previous regime, Iraq’s water managers still lack sufficient technical capability and knowledge to address its growing water crisis. Budget constraints have handicapped the government’s ability to implement a long-term water management plan.” </p> <p>Social problems connected with water scarcity are common in Iraq: fishermen in the southern complain of a declining catches; in agricultural areas, water shortages have caused wheat production to fall by half. According to the UN, Iraq now imports 80 per cent of its food and 90 per cent of Iraq’s land is either desert or “suffering from severe desertification”. </p> <p>“Water is more important than oil for Iraq because we have agricultural lands which, without water, are useless. Agriculture is the future and the new government need to see that,” Ajeji said. </p> <p>The political impact of water relations with upriver countries is not lost on the UN. “We believe that the problem has political dimensions between Iraq and [its neighbours], which are trying to put pressure on the Iraqi government to advance some economic and political interests. The maneuvering has already begun in determining how much water Iraq should really have,” its report said. </p> <p>Dr Mohammed al-Zubaidi, political science professor at Baghdad University, said water is already the defining factor in Iraq’s foreign relations. </p> <p>“Listen, don’t be naïve. Upriver countries dominate down river countries because they control water revenue. This gives them advantages in other fields as well,” Zubaidi said. </p> <p>“Let’s talk about Turkey and Syria. We have concerns that one day they will ask in return for water, one barrel of water for one barrel of oil. That day will come soon if Iraq maintains its ignorant strategies of wasteful water management.” </p> <p>The Baghdad government claims it is doing its part in seeking adequate water for Iraq and applying diplomatic pressure to upriver neighbours. </p> <p>“We have formed delegations to visit Turkey, Iran and Syria to speak with them about sharing water because we face a serious problem in this regard. We have sent letters demanding the need to give us more water,” Jamal al-Battiq, head of parliament’s agricultural committee, said. </p> <p>Neighbouring nations have been reluctant to address Iraq’s water woes, but Mustafa Kibargolu, a professor at Bilkent University’s international relations department, cautioned that water could be the source of conflict in years to come. </p> <p>“[There hasn’t been any] confrontation or high tension stemming from the unsatisfied demands of parties over the use of water. [But] this should not mislead observers into thinking this is unlikely,” Kibargolu said. </p> <p>“Unless some old water policies are purged and new ones introduced. It is a real possibility that this region will become a time bomb in terms of water rights.”</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.iwpr.net/report-news/baghdad-urged-tackle-water-crisis" class="external" target="_blank">Baghdad Urged to Tackle Water Crisis – IWPR Institute for War & Peace Reporting</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-10499"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/14/red-cross-iraq-water-formerly-a-blessing-increasingly-a-problem/#respond" title="Comment on Red Cross: Iraq : water formerly a blessing, increasingly a problem">No Comments</a></span> Posted on May 14th, 2010 by Diya al din</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/14/red-cross-iraq-water-formerly-a-blessing-increasingly-a-problem/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Red Cross: Iraq : water formerly a blessing, increasingly a problem">Red Cross: Iraq : water formerly a blessing, increasingly a problem</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/1990-1991-gulf-war/" rel="tag">1990-1991 Gulf War</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/agriculture/" rel="tag">Agriculture</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/agriculture-production/" rel="tag">agriculture production</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-rahma-idp-camp/" rel="tag">al Rahma IDP camp</a>, <a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saudi-arabia/" rel="tag">Saudi Arabia</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/security-situation/" rel="tag">security situation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sewage/" rel="tag">sewage</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sewage-treatment-plants/" rel="tag">sewage treatment plants</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/social-welfare/" rel="tag">social welfare</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sulaimaniya/" rel="tag">Sulaimaniya</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tal-kaif/" rel="tag">Tal Kaif</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tasfirat/" rel="tag">Tasfirat</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tigris/" rel="tag">Tigris</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tigris-and-euphrates-rivers/" rel="tag">tigris and euphrates rivers</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tripartite-commission/" rel="tag">Tripartite Commission</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/underground-aquifers/" rel="tag">underground aquifers</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr/" rel="tag">UNHCR</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d9%85%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">مدينة الصدر‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/waste-water/" rel="tag">waste water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-borne-disease/" rel="tag">Water Borne Disease</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-contamination/" rel="tag">Water Contamination</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-crisis-iraq/" rel="tag">Water Crisis (Iraq)</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-levels/" rel="tag">water levels</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-shortage/" rel="tag">water shortage</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply/" rel="tag">water supply</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply-systems/" rel="tag">water supply systems</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-treatment/" rel="tag">water treatment</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-treatment-plants/" rel="tag">water treatment plants</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/wheat/" rel="tag">wheat</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-poverty-of/" rel="tag">women - poverty of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%ac%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a8-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%87%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%b1/" rel="tag">جمعية الصليب والهلال الاحمر</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>Millions of people in Iraq cannot get clean water or water in sufficient quantity. The ICRC is doing its best to improve access to safe water. This is an update on ICRC activities carried out in Iraq in March and April.</p> <p>The Tigris and the Euphrates, which supply the bulk of Iraq’s water, are slowly dwindling and in some areas can no longer be used as a reliable source of drinking water. Across the country, the shrinking of the rivers is having serious consequences on the functioning of water treatment plants. It also affects underground aquifers, where the salt content of the water is increasing. This water is often unfit for human consumption or even for agricultural use. </p> <p>The volatile security situation in some areas and the rising price of fuel have put additional strain on already scarce services, as have population growth and displacement. In many places, the strain is further compounded by a lack of qualified engineers and staff able to maintain and repair water and sanitation facilities. Many farming communities were hard hit by the drought that struck northern Iraq in 2008. Average rainfall over the past 10 years has been far lower than in previous decades. In the north, water supply systems fed by springs and shallows aquifers have been depleted and often have less water available to meet demand. Although rainfall has been better in many places during 2009 and 2010, low water-levels continue to affect agriculture production, meaning Iraq needs to import more rice and wheat. With less water of sufficient quality generally available, management of the existing resources is key. </p> <p>Because large suburban residential areas have sometimes developed without adequate infrastructure, and certain sewage treatment plants are bypassed, wastewater is discharged untreated into rivers and lakes. Ditches and ponds filled with foul-smelling polluted water blight many neighbourhoods. The United Nations recently estimated that around 83% of sewage is being let into rivers and waterways. </p> <p>Water treatment and distribution facilities are also disrupted by persistent power shortages. Iraq is currently producing around 6,000 megawatts of electricity a day, while demand is estimated at 10,000 megawatts. Health, water and sewage facilities and other infrastructure in many parts of the country still rely on back-up generators to meet their need for electric power. </p> <p>Water distribution systems that are old or badly maintained are further weakened by illegal connections and substandard plumbing within households. Leakages cause large amounts of wasted water and frequent contamination. According to the United Nations, nearly half of Iraqis in rural areas are without safe drinking water. The Iraqi government estimates that 24% of Iraqis in the country as a whole, or nearly one in four, do not have access to safe water. </p> <p>"Reliable access to enough water of sufficient quality remains a major challenge for large parts of the population", said Julien Le Sourd, the ICRC’s water and habitat coordinator in Iraq. "The ICRC is doing its utmost to improve this by repairing and upgrading water supply and sewage systems. We do this in partnership with the authorities and we are also providing training for maintenance staff working in water treatment plants." </p> <p>In March and April, ICRC water engineers:</p> <ul> <li>completed work at the Ashty water station, in Erbil governorate, which provides safe drinking water for around 10,000 people living in nearby villages; </li> <li>built an emergency unit in the 50-bed Qala’t Salih Hospital in Missan governorate; </li> <li>upgraded the storage capacity for drinking water and for water used in the cooling system in Medical City Hospital, Baghdad. The hospital can accommodate 1,400 patients and treats around 10,000 outpatients per day; </li> <li>renovated a primary health-care centre serving around 400 patients in Sadr City, Baghdad; </li> <li>connected the school of al Rahma camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Najaf City, which has 1,000 pupils and teachers, to the municipal water and electricity supply networks; </li> <li>supplied and installed a new mortuary refrigerator with a capacity of 12 corpses in Beiji General Hospital, in Salah Al Din governorate; </li> <li>delivered water by truck to 4,500 displaced people in Sadr City and to 340 in Husseinia and Ma’amil, Al Imam Ali General Hospital and Fatma al Zahra Hospital, all in Baghdad governorate, and to 360 in Qalawa Quarter camp in Sulaimaniya; </li> <li>installed equipment used to fill water bags for distribution during emergencies at Al Wathba water treatment plant in Baghdad; </li> <li>repaired the Hindiyah water treatment plant in Karbala, which supplies water to around 125,000 people; </li> <li>installed a large-capacity pump in al Fadhliya water treatment plant, Thi Qar governorate, providing drinking water for 82,000 people. </li> <li>assessed, in cooperation with Iraqi Correctional Services engineers, 11 detention facilities under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, evaluating needs and recommending improvements for the delivery of essential services (water, electricity, sewage). </li> </ul> <p><b>Bringing aid to vulnerable people</b> </p> <p>The ICRC maintained its support for people facing special difficulty earning a living and supporting their families, such as women heading households, people with disabilities and displaced people: </p> <ul> <li>more than 2,300 displaced families headed by women in Diyala, Salah Al-Din and Ninawa governorates were given monthly food parcels and hygiene items; </li> <li>around 2,100 people displaced in March from Mosul to Hamdanya and Tilkaif were given food parcels and rice; </li> <li>61 disabled people in Erbil, Dohuk and Ninawa governorates were given micro-economic aid enabling them to start small businesses and regain economic self-sufficiency. A total of 459 disabled people have now received such aid in a programme that started in 2008. </li> </ul> <p><b>Assisting hospitals and physical rehabilitation centres</b> </p> <p>Iraqi health facilities still benefit from ICRC support. To help disabled people reintegrate into the community, the ICRC provides limb-fitting and physical rehabilitation services. In March and April: </p> <ul> <li>six hospitals and three primary health-care centres received medical supplies and equipment; </li> <li>25 doctors and 28 nurses successfully took part in a training course on strengthening emergency services given at Al Sadr Teaching Hospital in Najaf and at Sulaimaniya Emergency Hospital; </li> <li>two people from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research involved in the teaching of prosthetics and orthotics went to the National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics in the United Kingdom under ICRC sponsorship for advanced training. </li> </ul> <p><b>Visiting detainees</b> </p> <p>ICRC delegates continued to visit detainees in order to monitor the conditions in which they are being held and the treatment they receive. In all cases, the ICRC shares its findings and recommendations in confidence with the detaining authorities. In March and April, the ICRC visited detainees held: </p> <ul> <li>in Counter-Terrorism Directorate and Tasfirat Najaf, in Najaf governorate; </li> <li>in Mina and Samawa prisons, Basra governorate; </li> <li>in Counter-Terrorism Directorate, Kirkuk governorate; </li> <li>in US custody, in Remembrance II, Baghdad governorate; </li> <li>in four prisons and one police station in Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniya governorates. </li> </ul> <p>Around 1,550 detainees held in Hilla I & II Correctional Facilities were given mattresses and recreational items such as ping-pong tables, soccer balls and volleyballs. </p> <p>The ICRC makes a special effort to restore and maintain ties between detainees and their families. In March, it arranged for six Iraqi families to enter Kuwait and visit their relatives detained there since 1991. In addition, around 10,500 Red Cross messages were exchanged between detainees and their families in Iraq and abroad during the month of March. </p> <p>During March and April, the ICRC responded to more than 3,600 enquiries from families seeking information on detained relatives. It also issued 220 certificates to former detainees making them eligible to receive social welfare benefits. </p> <p>At the request of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the ICRC issued 73 travel documents for Palestinian refugees in Iraq to enable them to resettle abroad. </p> <p><b>Clarifying what happened to missing people</b> </p> <p>The ICRC supports the authorities in their efforts to clarify what happened to those who went missing in connection with the Iran-Iraq War and the 1990-1991 Gulf War. It also helps train forensic professionals in the identification and management of mortal remains and regularly supplies equipment. In the past two months: </p> <ul> <li>the Technical Sub-Committee of the Tripartite Commission, handling cases of persons missing in connection with the 1990-1991 Gulf War, held its 64th session in Kuwait, which was chaired by the ICRC and attended by representatives from Iraq, Kuwait and the 1990-1991 Coalition (the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Saudi Arabia). Nine samples of human remains were handed over by the Iraqi to the Kuwaiti delegation for DNA analysis in an effort to determine if they belonged to missing Kuwaiti nationals. The sub-committee will hold a special meeting on forensics in Kuwait in May; </li> <li>mortal remains of Iraqi soldiers were repatriated from Kuwait under ICRC auspices. </li> </ul> <p><b>Promoting international humanitarian law</b> </p> <p>In line with its mandate, the ICRC promotes compliance with international humanitarian law and reminds parties to a conflict of their obligation to protect civilians. In March and April, the ICRC organized a series of seminars and presentations on international humanitarian law for various audiences all over Iraq.</p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-9989"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/04/22/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%a4%d9%83%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%88%d8%b6%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%8a-%d9%81/#respond" title="Comment on الموارد المائية تؤكد ان الوضع المائي في العراق شهد تحسناً مقارنة بالعام الماضي">No Comments</a></span> Posted on April 22nd, 2010 by Saba Ali</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/04/22/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%a4%d9%83%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%88%d8%b6%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%8a-%d9%81/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to الموارد المائية تؤكد ان الوضع المائي في العراق شهد تحسناً مقارنة بالعام الماضي">الموارد المائية تؤكد ان الوضع المائي في العراق شهد تحسناً مقارنة بالعام الماضي</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/iraq/" title="View all posts in News" rel="category tag">News</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rate-of-flow/" rel="tag">rate of flow</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-crisis-iraq/" rel="tag">Water Crisis (Iraq)</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply/" rel="tag">water supply</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p dir="rtl" align="right">أكد وزير الموارد المائية، الثلاثاء، ان الوضع المائي في العراق لهذا العام شهد تحسناً مقارنة بالعام الماضي نتيجة لتساقط الامطار الكثيف، في حين لاتزال الايرادات المائية لنهر الفرات دون المعدل المطلوب. <br/>جاء ذلك خلال ترأس وزير الموارد المائية عبد اللطيف جمال رشيد اجتماعاً لهيئة الرأي ضم مستشارين ومديرين عامين ومختصين في شؤون المياه والموارد المائية خُصص لمناقشة المؤشرات العامة للموارد المائية للفصل الصيفي القادم. <br/>رشيد أكد أهمية الحفاظ على كمية المخزون المائي في بحيرات وخزانات السدود، فضلا عن التركيز على ضرورة تأمين توزيع الحصص المائية بشكل عادل بين المحافظات، بالاضافة الى بذل الجهود وتكثيف الاتصالات مع دول الجوار لزيادة الاطلاقات المائية وتقسيم المياه المشتركة بعدالة.</p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-9488"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/03/31/red-cross-iraq-coping-with-violence-and-striving-to-earn-a-living/#respond" title="Comment on Red Cross Iraq: coping with violence and striving to earn a living">No Comments</a></span> Posted on March 31st, 2010 by Nur Hussein Ghazali</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/03/31/red-cross-iraq-coping-with-violence-and-striving-to-earn-a-living/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Red Cross Iraq: coping with violence and striving to earn a living">Red Cross Iraq: coping with violence and striving to earn a living</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/iraq/" title="View all posts in News" rel="category tag">News</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/1990-1991-gulf-war/" rel="tag">1990-1991 Gulf War</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/acts-of-violence/" rel="tag">acts of violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/agricultural-machinery/" rel="tag">agricultural machinery</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/agricultural-production/" rel="tag">agricultural production</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/agriculture/" rel="tag">Agriculture</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/agriculture-decline-of/" rel="tag">Agriculture decline of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-khateeb/" rel="tag">Al Khateeb</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-sadr/" rel="tag">al sadr</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-zubair-basrah-mixed-area/" rel="tag">al-Zubair (Basrah mixed area)</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/amarah/" rel="tag">Amarah</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/amil/" rel="tag">Amil</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/anbar/" rel="tag">Anbar</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/assayesh/" rel="tag">Assayesh</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad/" rel="tag">Baghdad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad-teaching-hospital/" rel="tag">Baghdad Teaching Hospital</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/basra/" rel="tag">Basra</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/camp-taji/" rel="tag">Camp Taji</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/chamchamal/" rel="tag">Chamchamal</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/cheap-imports/" rel="tag">cheap imports</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/children/" rel="tag">Children</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/civilians/" rel="tag">Civilians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/dijail/" rel="tag">Dijail</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/disabled-people/" rel="tag">disabled people</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/displacement/" rel="tag">displacement</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/disrepair/" rel="tag">disrepair</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/diwaniya/" rel="tag">Diwaniya</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/diyala/" rel="tag">Diyala</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/dohuk/" rel="tag">Dohuk</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/drought/" rel="tag">drought</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/economy/" rel="tag">Economy</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/electricity-supply/" rel="tag">electricity supply</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/erbil/" rel="tag">Erbil</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/farmers/" rel="tag">farmers</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/fertiliser/" rel="tag">fertiliser</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/fodder/" rel="tag">Fodder</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/food-handouts/" rel="tag">food handouts</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/food-parcels/" rel="tag">Food parcels</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/fort-suse/" rel="tag">Fort Suse</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/gulf-war/" rel="tag">Gulf War</a>, <a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sewage/" rel="tag">sewage</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/social-welfare/" rel="tag">social welfare</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/students/" rel="tag">Students</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sulaimaniya/" rel="tag">Sulaimaniya</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/taji/" rel="tag">Taji</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tasfirat/" rel="tag">Tasfirat</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tasfirat-kirkuk/" rel="tag">Tasfirat Kirkuk</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tripartite-commission/" rel="tag">Tripartite Commission</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d9%85%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">مدينة الصدر‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/violence/" rel="tag">violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply/" rel="tag">water supply</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-treatment/" rel="tag">water treatment</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/women-and-children/" rel="tag">Women and Children</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%ac%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a8-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%87%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%b1/" rel="tag">جمعية الصليب والهلال الاحمر</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>The beginning of 2010 was marred by acts of violence that claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians, mainly in Baghdad, the central governorates and Najaf. In Mosul, families fled violence and sought refuge in safer areas. Although recent violence-related displacement has been sporadic, there remain some 2.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Iraq who had to leave their homes over recent years in search of safety. </p> <p>Many Iraqis, especially those worst affected by the effects of the conflict and the ongoing violence, such as displaced, elderly and disabled people and women heading households, continued to struggle to feed their families. Their inability to buy enough of the essential goods they require remains a major concern. </p> <p>Agriculture, formerly an important part of the economy, has been declining for the past decade. Individuals who have lost agricultural machinery to damage, age or disrepair often cannot replace it owing to a lack of financial wherewithal. In addition, the water supply has been hard hit by a failure to properly maintain pumping stations and irrigation and distribution canals, by the unreliable electricity supply and by higher fuel costs. The massive increase in the price of seed and fertilizer, and cheap imports from neighbouring countries, also play a role in making farming difficult, if not impossible, in many parts of Iraq. Many farmers try to survive by cultivating smaller patches of land, but as they are forced to use low-quality supplies the result is often poor harvests. Others have migrated to cities in search of other ways of earning a living. </p> <p>The situation was exacerbated by the 2008 drought – the worst in the past 10 years – which had an especially severe impact on rain-fed agriculture in central, west-central and some northern parts of the country. In some areas, agricultural production was wiped out. After years of poor rainfalls, pastures were reduced and prices of fodder soared. According to an ICRC survey, breeders were forced to cut down their herds by more than 60 per cent in some parts of the country, which had a drastic effect on their livelihoods. "Before, we used to move to neighbouring districts. Now, everywhere is dry and we lost our crops and animals. How can we go on?," said one local farmer in Ninawa governorate. </p> <p>For households that have lost their main wage earner, the economic situation is especially hard to endure. Most people who went missing in connection with recent wars or the ongoing violence, and most people behind bars, are adult males – usually breadwinners. The women and children they left behind often became isolated and therefore extremely vulnerable, despite the strong cultural solidarity among Iraqis. </p> <p>The ICRC is helping the Iraqis who are worst off to cope with their hardships, and Iraqi communities to support themselves unaided. It is distributing seed and fertilizer, and fodder for livestock. In addition, it is vaccinating cattle and cleaning and improving irrigation canals. In 2009 alone, some 195,000 people benefited. </p> <p>In January and February 2010, according to the ICRC’s own independent assessment carried out by the organization’s staff all over Iraq, more than 20,000 people benefited from its humanitarian assistance:</p> <ul> <li>almost 15,500 displaced people (families headed by women) in Baghdad, Diyala, Salah Al-Din and Ninawa governorates were given monthly food parcels and hygiene items; </li> <li>around 5,400 people recently displaced from Mosul to Hamdanya and Tilkaif received emergency food parcels, rice and ready-to-eat meals; </li> <li>over 1,900 farmers in Diyala governorate received 491.5 metric tonnes of urea fertilizer to help them improve their harvest and make their farming sustainable; </li> <li>43 disabled people in Erbil, Dohuk, Sulaimaniya and Ninewa governorates benefited from micro-economic aid enabling them to start small businesses and regain economic self-sufficiency. </li> </ul> <p>The ICRC also endeavoured to respond to other needs of the Iraqi population in January and February. </p> <h3>Providing clean water and sanitation</h3> <p>Access to clean water remains inadequate in several parts of the country. Only 45 per cent of the population, on average, have clean drinking water and 20 per cent proper sewage disposal. ICRC water engineers continue to repair and upgrade water, electrical and sanitation facilities all over Iraq, especially in areas where violence remains a concern, to enhance access for civilians to clean water and to improve the quality of services provided in communities and health-care facilities. </p> <ul> <li>Baghdad governorate: Samadiya water compact unit for about 20,000 people, Al Mahmodiya General Hospital serving some 400,000 people living in the area, Ibn Al Khateeb Infectious Diseases Hospital, Medico Legal Institute, Tabat al Kurd water boosting station for over 3,500 people and Al Mada’in water treatment plant for 470,000 people (including displaced people) plus three hospitals and eight primary health-care centres. </li> <li>Anbar governorate: Heet water treatment plant for 45,000 residents and 250 displaced people, Habbaniya water treatment plant for 30,000 residents and 1,500 displaced people, and Al Qaim Hospital providing health care for around 350,000 area inhabitants. </li> <li>Salah Al Din governorate: al Dor clinic and Dijail compact unit supplying water to almost 25,000 people. </li> </ul> <p>Other water-related works were carried out that will benefit nearly 100,000 people in Missan, Diwaniya and Diyala governorates, and in Ninawa governorate where 3,000 inmates held at Badoosh prison will be among those benefiting. </p> <p>Water was delivered by truck to: </p> <ul> <li>4,500 displaced people in Sadr City and 340 in Husseinia and Ma’amil, and in Baghdad Teaching Hospital, all in Baghdad governorate; </li> <li>Qalawa Quarter camp in Sulaimaniya, hosting around 360 displaced people. Two damaged tanks of 5,000 litres each have been replaced. </li> </ul> <h3>Assisting hospitals and physical rehabilitation centres</h3> <p>Health-care services are still inadequate. In some areas, it is difficult to reach health facilities because of the prevailing lack of security. Iraqi health facilities still benefit from ICRC support. Limb-fitting and physical rehabilitation services are provided by the ICRC to help disabled people reintegrate into the community. In January and February: </p> <ul> <li>12 hospitals and three primary health-care centres received medical supplies and equipment; </li> <li>34 doctors and nurses successfully took part in a training course on strengthening emergency services given in Sulaimaniya Emergency Hospital and in Al Sadr Teaching Hospital in Najaf; </li> <li>26 managers working in the field of primary health care in Ninawa, Kirkuk, Erbil and Diyala governorates participated in a forum, held in Erbil, on improving the quality of health care services in rural primary health-care centres; </li> <li>two physiotherapists from Najaf, two from Hilla, one from Sulaimaniya and one from Erbil attended a three-week training course in Erbil, where the ICRC runs a physical rehabilitation centre. </li> </ul> <h3>Visiting detainees</h3> <p>Visiting detainees remains a top priority for the ICRC in Iraq. In January and February, ICRC delegates visited detainees held: </p> <ul> <li>in Fort Suse Federal Prison, Sulaimaniya governorate; in Nasiriya Prison, Thi-Qar governorate; in Mina and Maaqal prisons, Basra governorate; </li> <li>in Tasfirat Kirkuk, Emergency Police Station and Juvenile Police Centre; in Assayesh KDP Station, Kirkuk governorate; </li> <li>in Brigade 54, 6th Division, Baghdad governorate; </li> <li>in six prisons and two police stations in Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniya governorates; </li> <li>in Camp Taji (US custody), Baghdad governorate. This was the last visit to the detention facility prior to its handover to Iraqi authorities. </li> </ul> <p>Around 5,200 detainees held in Fort Suse, Chamchamal, Khademiya, Adhala and Amarah prisons received blankets, mattresses and clothes to help them cope with the cold winter season. In Chamchamal Federal Prison, 34 disabled detainees were given crutches as part of a follow-up carried out by ICRC health delegates of health care in the prison. </p> <p>More than 7,800 Red Cross messages were exchanged between detainees and their families in January and February. In addition, 626 detention certificates were issued to former detainees or internees to make them eligible for social welfare benefits. </p> <h3>Clarifying what happened to missing people</h3> <p>The ICRC supports the authorities in their efforts to clarify what happened to those who went missing in connection with the Iran-Iraq War and the 1990-1991 Gulf War. It also helps train forensic professionals in the identification and management of mortal remains and regularly supplies equipment. In January and February: </p> <ul> <li>the mortal remains of nine Iranian soldiers were repatriated from Iraq under ICRC auspices; </li> <li>the Technical Sub-Committee of the Tripartite Commission, handling cases of persons missing in connection with the 1990-1991 Gulf War, held its 63rd session in Kuwait, which was chaired by the ICRC and attended by representatives from Iraq, Kuwait and the 1990-1991 Coalition (the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Saudi Arabia); </li> <li>two days of training by an ICRC forensic specialist were provided for staff of Al Zubair centre to help them better manage the files of thousands of missing persons. </li> </ul> <h3>Promoting international humanitarian law</h3> <p>Reminding parties to a conflict of their obligation to protect civilians is a fundamental part of the ICRC’s work. The organization also endeavours to promote international humanitarian law within the civil society. In this framework, a series of presentations were organized for various audiences, which included military personnel, prison staff, students and professors </p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/iraq-update-300309" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq: coping with violence and striving to earn a living</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-8067"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/12/25/kurdish-town-swept-by-day-of-rioting/#respond" title="Comment on Kurdish Town Swept by Day of Rioting">No Comments</a></span> Posted on December 25th, 2009 by Editors</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/12/25/kurdish-town-swept-by-day-of-rioting/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Kurdish Town Swept by Day of Rioting">Kurdish Town Swept by Day of Rioting</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/arrests/" rel="tag">Arrests</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/asayish/" rel="tag">Asayish</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/barham-saleh/" rel="tag">Barham Saleh</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/corrupt-politicians/" rel="tag">Corrupt politicians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/corruption/" rel="tag">Corruption</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/demonstrations/" rel="tag">Demonstrations</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/interior-minister/" rel="tag">interior minister</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iwpr/" rel="tag">IWPR</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kurdistan/" rel="tag">Kurdistan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kurds/" rel="tag">kurds</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/patriotic-union-of-kurdistan/" rel="tag">patriotic union of kurdistan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/peshmerga/" rel="tag">Peshmerga</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/pirmagrun/" rel="tag">Pirmagrun</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/puk/" rel="tag">PUK</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sulaimaniyah/" rel="tag">sulaimaniyah</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply/" rel="tag">water supply</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a3%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%b4/" rel="tag">أسايش</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div style="border-right: lightgrey 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: lightgrey 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; border-left: lightgrey 1px solid; width: 360px; padding-top: 5px; border-bottom: lightgrey 1px solid"> <p>Hundreds take to the streets in violent protest against poor standard of public services. </p> <p>By Charles McDermid and Tiare Rath in Pirmagrun (ICR No. 317, 23-Dec-09) Charles McDermid and Tiare Rath are <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.iwpr.net/" target="_blank" class="external">IWPR</a> editors in Sulaimaniyah. IWPR reporters Hemin H Lihony, Mariwan Hama-Saeed and Rahman Gharib contributed to this report from Pirmagrun and Sulaimaniyah. </p> </p></div> <p>Hundreds of Kurdish government police and soldiers stormed the town of Pirmargrun on December 23 after a day of rioting left dozens injured and police vehicles in flames. It was the biggest day of street violence in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2006. </p> <p>Unarmed protesters took to the streets in the early morning to voice their anger over poor public services and what they said was rampant corruption among local officials. </p> <p>They used boulders to blockade roads into the town and assaulted municipal officials. </p> <p>The violence was triggered by a TV broadcast the night before in which mayor Awat Tofiq claimed residents were "blind" to the infrastucture projects taking place in the town. </p> <p>The mob overpowered local police and attacked the top district official, Salam Omar, when he arrived on the scene to call for calm. </p> <p>Police called in from the nearby city of Sulaimaniyah attempted to quell the protests by firing live rounds into the air, but were forced to back down. Two of the police’s armoured personnel carriers were seized and torched. </p> <p>A 27-year-old former member of the Kurdish peshmerga military force, whose name is withheld out of concern for his safety, gave IWPR an account of what had gone on. </p> <p>"We beat the local head of the PUK [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan], and when the head of the district came to tell us to stop, we beat him too. When a representative of [Iraqi president Jalal] Talabani arrived, we threw stones at him. We went looking for the mayor, but he went into hiding," he said. </p> <p>Anti-riot police and military troops armed with automatic weapons and machine guns mounted on vehicles entered the town at dusk, firing over the heads of fleeing protesters, eyewitnesses said. </p> <p>By nightfall, the town of some 24,000 inhabitants was tense as locals waited in fearful anticipation of house-to-house searches during the night. </p> <p>"The town is quiet and everyone is scared. The forces have surrounded the government buildings and officials’ houses," local resident Bakir Gurunn, 25, told IWPR by phone from inside the town. "We are very scared that they might search our houses later tonight and arrest people. I’m not going to sleep at my house; I’m going to hide." </p> <p>Seventeen injured policemen were taken to hospital, Hakim Qadir, the security chief for Sulaimaniyah province, told IWPR. </p> <p>Several protesters were also injured, with one hospitalised with a gunshot wound, demonstrators and medical sources reported. </p> <p>Qadir condemned the violence. He told IWPR that no arrests had been made by nightfall on December 23, but warned that anyone who had broken the law would be detained. </p> <p>"The situation is now under control," he said in a phone interview from Pirmargrun. </p> <p>"There was no need for the people in the town to come out like this. If they have problems they should have sent a delegation to the Kurdish Regional Government." </p> <p>The townspeople claim that mayor Tofik, who is a PUK appointee, has neglected the town and its citizens. Numerous protesters spoke of a lack of electricity, sewage systems and domestic water supplies. </p> <p>"Do you see that mountain?" said Sarkawt Muhammad Amin, sweeping an arm towards the towering, snow-capped peak after which the town is named. "Up to the top of that mountain is how much we hate the mayor." </p> <p>Tofiq, who has served as mayor for four years, has denied the allegations of mismanagement. </p> <p>On the morning of the protests, he issued an apology for accusing residents of being "blind". </p> <p>This failed to placate some 700 of the protesters who marched on the mayor’s abandoned office at four in the afternoon, shattering its windows with stones and vandalising its ornate garden. They dispersed when gunmen on the roof of the local PUK headquarters across the street opened fire above their heads. </p> <p>As the protesters fled, several were kicked, beaten with rifle butts and dragged through the streets, as witnessed by IWPR reporters. </p> <p>Pirmagrun was built in 1988 as a refugee camp for people displaced by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign against the Kurds. </p> <p>These days, the town is known as a stronghold for the fledgling opposition party Change. Security forces told IWPR that they blamed the riot on Change, a charge that locals denied. </p> <p>“There is no one behind this. There is no outside hand,” said Star Khidir, a 50-year-old civil servant who said he did not participate in the protest himself because he feared losing his job. </p> <p>Other residents agreed that their concerns were purely about the alleged corruption that left them without access to public utilities. </p> <p>"There are no politics today. This is all about the services that were promised to us. We have no electricity, no water, no sewage – that is why we reacted this way," said Mustafa Ahmed, a 70-year-old elder. </p> <p>"We will be back tomorrow, and even if they fire on us, we won’t stop." </p> <p>Ahmed has lived in the town since it was established, and pointed out that at least 1,000 of the families here have relatives who died in the Anfal campaign. </p> <p>He said people in the town had heard enough "words and broken promises". </p> <p>"I was expelled from my home and brought to live here 20 years ago. The Kurdish government hasn’t given me as much as one cigarette," he said. "We cannot live without services and today we did something about it." </p> <p>The riot was the largest since Halabja residents took to the streets in 2006, again to protest poor services. At that time, Kurdish military forces deployed in the town were accused of firing on civilians as the riots broke out. One teenage boy was killed and several young demonstrators were arrested. </p> <p>Kurdish security forces were accused of using excessive force against protesters in several other demonstrations between 2005 and 2006. After the Halabja riot, the Kurdistan Regional Government created a riot police force that is authorised to carry batons and electric stun guns, but not firearms. </p> <p>Rawan Sabir, a representative for KRG prime minister Barham Saleh’s office in Sulaimaniyah, walked into Pirmargrun accompanied by two members of the security forces shortly after the gunfire erupted. </p> <p>Sabir acknowledged that the protesters had taken to the streets because of poor services, and also because of the mayor’s remarks on television. </p> <p>“People believe that services are not adequate for the demand,” he said. </p> <p>Sabir said the KRG had begun road and water infrastructure projects in the town a few months ago, but that they were not yet complete. </p> <p>He said he would “try to look at their demands and explain why this happened to the prime minister". </p> <p>Jalal Karim, KRG deputy interior minister, held a meeting together with security official Qadir after their forces dispersed the rioters. </p> <p>Residents threatened to continue the protest until two people who they said were arrested during the riots were released, and until their demands for proper utilities were addressed. </p> <p>“We’re ten years behind every other place in this area,” said 27-year-old Sarkowt Khalid, a day labourer who participated in the protest. “Most towns have paved roads and pavements, but when it rains in our town we have to wear boots just to get through the mud.” </p> <p>A local policeman, who did not want to be identified, said that half of the town had no water supply, while the other half received just one hour of water every three days. </p> <p>Pashowa Khasro, a high school student, said he heard about the protest from some of his fellow-students. He joined the demonstration after finishing exams in the afternoon. </p> <p>“People are opening their eyes and won’t accept corruption. How long are people going to have to suffer with promises unfulfilled?” he said. </p> </p> <p>Source: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.iwpr.net/" target="_blank" class="external">IWPR</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=358619&apc_state=henpicr" class="external" target="_blank">Kurdish Town Swept by Day of Rioting</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-7922"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/12/14/the-dust-bowl-of-babylon/#respond" title="Comment on The Dust Bowl of Babylon">No Comments</a></span> Posted on December 14th, 2009 by Editors</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/12/14/the-dust-bowl-of-babylon/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to The Dust Bowl of Babylon">The Dust Bowl of Babylon</a></h3> <p 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mountains</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p> </p> <blockquote><p><b>The Dust Bowl of Babylon</b></p> <p>Are crippling droughts the next great threat to Iraq? Asks <b>Martin Chulov</b>.</p> <p>BAGHDAD — From his mud brick home on the edge of the Garden of Eden, Awda Khasaf has twice seen his country’s lifeblood seep away. The waters that once spread from his doorstep across a 20% slab of Iraq known as the Marshlands first disappeared in 1991, when Saddam Hussein diverted them east to punish the rebellious Marsh Arabs. The wetlands have been crucial to Iraq since the earliest days of civilization — sustaining the lives of up to half a million people who live in and around the area, while providing water for almost two million more. </p> <p>The waters vanished after the First Gulf War due to a dictator’s wrath; over the next 16 years, they ebbed and flowed, but slowly started to return to their pre-Saddam levels. By 2007, with no more sabotage and average rains, almost 70% of the lost water had been recovered. Now it’s gone again. This time because of a crisis far more endemic: a devastating drought and the water policies of neighboring Turkey, Iran, and Syria. These three nations have effectively stopped most of the headwaters of the three rivers — the Tigris, Euphrates, and Karoon — that feed these marshes. </p> <p>“Once in a generation was bad enough,” says Awda, a tribal head and local sheikh in the al-Akeryah Marshlands, who also advises the Nasiriyah governorate on water issues. “Twice could well be God’s vengeance.” </p> <p>In a land where fundamental interpretations of monotheistic scripts often determine the tone of public discourse, particular attention is now being paid to the biblical Book of Revelation, in which the Euphrates River drying up was prophesized as a harbinger for the end of the world. It is not doomsday yet in Iraq, but the water shortage here has not been worse for at least the last two centuries — and possibly for several millennia more. Government estimates suggest close to two million Iraqis face severe drinking water shortages and extremely limited hydropower-generated electricity in a part of the country where most households get by on no more than eight hours of supplied power per day, in the best of times. </p> <p>The flow of the Euphrates that reaches Iraq is down, according to scientific estimates, by 50% to 70% and falling further by the week. From his frugal office in Baghdad’s National Center for Water Management, engineer Zuhair Hassan Ahmed has for the past decade plotted the water levels of the Euphrates and the Tigris, the latter of which bisects the Iraqi capital. The hand-etched ink graphs show a black line that marks an average “water year,” from October to May, superimposed over a green line, which shows the actual flow through the two rivers over the same time. The green line had been markedly lower than the benchmark for much of the past decade. But in 2007 — the start of a serious drought — it dipped sharply and has continued to fall. </p> <p>In Baghdad, the lack of water has been an inconvenience, an eyesore, and a health hazard. Raw sewage and refuse pumped into the Tigris is not flushed downstream as rapidly as it once was. The Tigris is Baghdad’s main artery, but it is also still a working river, long traversed by small commuter ferries, industrial barges, and, in the city’s halcyon days, even pleasure boats. Giant mud islands now protrude from the once wide, blue expanse of the river, making it unnavigable for larger vessels. Further downstream, and especially along the Euphrates — which runs roughly on a parallel track west though Iraq’s bread basket — the effects of the shortage are far worse. </p> <p>Between Two Rivers </p> </p> <p>Here, in the land between the two rivers that was once the heartland of ancient Mesopotamia, the water crisis has ravaged agriculture, an industry still struggling to regain its footing after three decades of deprivation and war. This was the second mooted site (the other was the Marshlands themselves) of the fabled Garden of Eden — a land so rich in soil and water that it would quench the needs of its dwellers throughout eternity. It doesn’t look quite like that now. Crops of grain, barley, mint, and dates have failed almost en masse. Further west, in Anbar province, a prized rice variety that was once sold at a premium throughout Iraq and in the markets of neighboring countries has just been harvested. Like almost all other crops, this year’s yield is a disaster. </p> <p>“We blame the Turks for this,” says Hatem al-Ansari, a local Anbar rice grower who claims to have lost half his family’s life savings since January 2009 due to a lack of water to irrigate his rice. “We have been digging wells nearby, and so has the government, but it is not enough. Not even close.” Shielding his face with a black scarf from a sandstorm blowing in on an acetylene desert wind, Hatem points in the direction of the Euphrates’ upper reaches. “If you go down to the bank, you will see where the water was last year and last week,” he says. “Our water pumps can no longer reach it. It’s true it hasn’t been raining, but it’s just as true that even 30% of normal rainfall does not cripple a mighty river like this.” He had to be taken on his word. The swirling sand and dust were starting to turn the sky an ochre-orange haze and was steadily closing like a shroud on us all, making an inspection of the river bank impossible. </p> <p>Sandstorms have long been a fixture of Iraqi summers — on average, there are about eight to ten each hot season. But this year they became a pandemic. Close to 40 sandstorms blew in during the five months from May to early October. Some lasted three days at a time, sheeting farms with suffocating silt, closing airports, and adding another layer of misery to a society that has been through hell. </p> <p>Lack of water for irrigation, especially in Anbar, is a key problem. Iraq’s water minister, Dr. Abdul Rashid Latif, says that the government dug an extra 1,000 wells over the past two years, taking advantage of a relatively high groundwater table. But drawing on a diminishing resource during a time of drought has proved costly. “We now have only around 20% of our original reserves left,” he says. “And the thing about this water is that not much of it is being replenished.” </p> <p><b></b> </p> <p>“The Scent of a Dying Ecosystem” </p> </p> <p>Iraq’s water numbers make for disturbing reading across the board. Government estimates put total reservoir storage at around 9% of nationwide capacity on the leading edge of a wet season that is not forecast to bring much relief. For the past two years, rainfall was some 70% lower than usual in most of Iraq’s 18 provinces. </p> <p>The snow melt that usually feeds the Tigris system from the Zagros Mountains in the Kurdish north was equally deficient. There are now seven dams on the adjoining Euphrates system, most in Turkey and Syria, with plans for at least one more. And then there are the rampant inefficiencies built into Iraq’s antiquated 8,000 miles of canals and drains, which send countless millions of gallons gushing into parts of the country that have little use for the water, and no means to harness it even if they did. </p> <p>Some have looked to the heavens to explain the lack of rain. Society here is deeply superstitious. Many Iraqis, from the Sunni Arabs of Anbar to the tribes of the Marshlands, believe the natural deficiencies are God-ordained — and possibly a punishment for the sectarian ravages that have torn the country apart over the last three years. </p> <p>“Droughts have happened before and will plague us again,” says Awda as he surveys the vast expanse of hard-baked and cracked brown mud in front of him that used to be the Marshlands. “But not even in ’91 was the water like this. Now there is nothing.” The only water left in the maze of feeder streams that empty into this giant basin are pools of lime-colored stagnant ooze. Nothing flows. Ducks and geese sit listlessly on creek banks that have not been exposed in decades — if ever — to direct sunlight. Infestations of flies circle like Saturn’s rings around giant, steel barrels of drinking water, imported from the nearby city of Nasiriyah, that line village roads. Reeds that were once the staple of the agrarian peoples who worked this waterway through the ages jut starkly from the banks, nearly all of them yellow and hardened, looking more like medieval weapons of war than crops. </p> <p>Earlier this fall, the major tributaries of the Euphrates were flowing at around 30% of their normal levels. “Look at that mark on the bank,” says Awda, pointing to a stain on a corrugated iron beam at the base of the bridge. Not long ago, he notes, this had been a high-water mark. The waterline is now at least nine feet lower. The pungent murk of the riverbed lingers in the air. “Take a deep breath,” says Awda. “That smell is the scent of a dying ecosystem.” </p> <p>Two fishermen, who had launched themselves into what remained of the waterway in a bid to net carp, return to the banks with their haul — 12 fish, none bigger than 10 inches. The catch is not enough to feed their families, let alone take to market. Two years ago, the fish were fat and bountiful. </p> <p>“Fishing is our staple here,” explains one local man, Sheikh Hameed from Abart village, further north of the Marshlands. “That, and hunting water birds. But they’ve all flown away. I had a stall here for many years,” he recalls, pointing to an abandoned roadside hut, where he used to sell his catch. </p> <p>The white polystyrene crates that used to hold the fish on ice are now home to street cats and sand drifts. A giant water buffalo, which once spent the best part of the summer immersed in the water, is now making do with what remains. He stands motionless, buried to the midriff in a festering, black mud. The caked soil cast offers at least some respite from the heat, but with the temperature expected to hover between 118 and 124 degrees Fahrenheit for the following week, he doesn’t have long left to wallow. </p> <p>“We are digging wells for our own survival,” says Sheikh Hameed. “And this in the most water-rich area of the country. This is not God’s wrath. This is the work of people.” </p> <p><b></b> </p> <p>Tweaking the Tap </p> </p> <p>Over the past six chaotic years, new reservoirs have been built into the Euphrates system on both the Syrian and Turkish sides of the border. Iraq, as a downstream country, would have likely suffered from serious water depletion even if it had a government strong enough to assert its authority against two powerful neighbors. But with a political class struggling to win legitimacy amid a sectarian war that has torn the country apart along ancient societal fault lines, there has been little time to tend even to the bare basics of survival. Delivery of services has been close to non-existent, from the national government down to village mayors. Now, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki claiming to run a credible sovereign state, work has begun in earnest on talking to the neighbors about many issues of Iraqi sovereignty, including border integrity, that have remained sidelined throughout the post-war turmoil. </p> <p>“They should realize that we are an important neighbor and share many things in life,” says Dr. Rashid, who has three times led Iraqi delegations to Istanbul and Damascus to beg for more water. He has returned with promises, but little fruit for his labors. With no treaties or agreements signed with either state, however, he has little leverage. “Our neighboring countries need to get the message that it is our right to get our share of water from these two international rivers and that we should have a say in their operational procedures because we are downstream. In our discussions they have never connected the water issues with any other issues.” </p> <p>There is trouble, too, from Iran, whose government earlier this year ordered the diversion back into Iranian territory of a key tributary of the Tigris — the Karoon River, which enters Iraq just north of the southern city of Basra. Until early this year, the Karoon had sent regularly a vital flush of freshwater down the Tigris and into the Shatt al-Arab waterway at the northwestern end of the Persian Gulf. The freshwater pushed back the tidal effect and allowed tens of thousands of Iraqis from the southern Marshlands to make their livelihood through fishing and farming. “There were 13 billion cubic meters of freshwater [annually] feeding into the Shatt al-Arab,” says Dr. Rashid. “Now that has gone. We have asked them to sit down and talk but they won’t even answer our requests.” </p> <p>In late October 2009, Iraqi technicians finally met with their Iranian counterparts. “They were told about the effect on the people in the south who are exclusively Shias — their people,” says Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari. “They were very embarrassed by this and promised to look into it.” Today, the saltwater of the relentless tides around Basra is still winning the push-me, pull-you game and, like a rampaging army, has pushed farther north up the waterway than ever before. As a result, some 30,000 locals have left their land, some of which has now been heavily salinated, leaving it of marginal agricultural value at best. </p> <p>Across Iraq, entire ecosystems are under threat. So far, redress from the Turks and the Syrians has consisted only of sympathetic words, followed by the occasional tweak of the tap. “We need 500 cubic meters per second,” Dr. Rashid said in August. “We have been getting 350 meters on some days, but 150 meters on average. They have promised us more, but we have yet to see it.” In the months that followed, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey three times announced a boost in the headwater flow from the Euphrates. But by late autumn, the downstream effect had been negligible. </p> <p>The giant power station in the city of Nasiriyah was still using only two of its four turbines that are normally powered by the flow of the Euphrates. One had broken down, but could not have been used anyway because, along with a second turbine, there was not enough moving water to power it. Nasiriyah was getting by on about six to eight hours of power a day — roughly the same as the rest of the country. </p> <p>Throughout the summer and fall, engineers at the power station were desperately hoping the river would not fall another eight inches, to a level that would have left Iraq’s fourth-largest city without any electricity whatsoever. “We saw it rise a centimeter or two, roughly two days after every announcement from the Turks, but it would soon drop away,” says an engineer at the power station. “The figures we were being promised were not translating into tangibles.” </p> <p><b></b> </p> <p>The Rains Cometh Not </p> </p> <p>Both Turkey and Syria have been suffering from the same rainfall deficiency as Iraq. The winter storm fronts that once formed regularly near Cyprus and swept east through Syria, Jordan, and Iraq have been rare over the past three years, as have the low-pressure systems that could usually be counted on to dip south into Turkey from the Balkans and the Russian steppe. Cloud seeding and the contentious science of rain-making have been considered in all four countries. </p> <p>Jordanians, in particular, remember the 1991 winter season, when seeding was attempted near Cyprus. That year, six separate snow-bearing storm fronts swept through the country, leaving yard-deep snow drifts on the streets of the capital, Amman, for many weeks. Heavy snow also fell across the Iraqi desert plains and the Zagros Mountains. The snow melt that autumn saw the Tigris burst its banks in Baghdad. Upstream in Turkey, there is still enough reliable winter rainfall to keep the dams brimming and make cloud seeding unnecessary. Downstream in Iraq, where the water is needed most, there is neither money nor interest for such an experiment. </p> <p>Even the ancient ways are starting to fail. From June to August of this year, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conducted research into the status of ancient, natural subterranean aqueducts used both for human settlement and irrigation in the Kurdish north. The UNESCO results painted a bleak picture of water resources in northern Iraq, which had for centuries boasted relatively bountiful supplies, even during harsh times. The UNESCO study found that 70% of the aqueducts, known as karez, that were producing water in 2005 had since dried up and been abandoned. Of the 683 karez surveyed, most were not functioning, due largely to excessive use and ongoing drought — only 116 still delivered water. The study claimed that 36,000 people were at risk of being displaced, while tens of thousands more had already left their lands. </p> <p>Figures in Iraq are always open to a degree of conjecture, but one reality is now clear: the water crisis is leading to mass migrations of people and a renewed displacement at both ends of the country, just as some order was starting to replace the bedlam of the invasion and civil war. Iraqis have been returning to their homes in mixed neighborhoods in Baghdad, but now rural people, fleeing in droves from the increasingly arid provinces, are also showing up in urban centers. </p> <p>The Marsh Arabs have left their lands in large numbers, according to Nasiriyah’s governor, Qusey al-Ebadi, who has yet to find ways to accommodate them. “They are nomadic people and move around during difficult times,” says al-Ebadi, “but I have never seen them coming into the cities with their animals like this.” The men of the Marshlands — now far from their ancestral lands — mill around in small groups on street corners in Nasiriyah, many searching for laboring work, looking incongruous and desperate. </p> <p>The people from the Shatt al-Arab area of the southern Marshlands also need accommodating. Government estimates suggest as many as 30,000 have left their lands, all but abandoning their agrarian livelihoods. Thousands more have been pushed to the brink of survival. If the Tigris and the Karoon do not flow again toward the Shatt al-Arab, the ecosystem they have relied on is all but finished. </p> <p>The water crisis could not have come at a worse time for Prime Minister al-Maliki, who has spent much of his time and energy as leader attempting to win enough authority to assert his will. His formula had been security first and stability second, followed by delivery of services. So far, he has achieved qualified approval on the first two, but abject failure on the third. </p> <p>Iraq’s energy sector is in a desperate state of disrepair. In late October, a rare thunder and lightning storm that brought the first rains to Baghdad in seven months caused power to crash citywide for eight hours. Even without rain, or other disturbances such as dust or wind, most residents of the capital are getting by on no more than a half-day of regular electricity, the vast bulk supplied by coal-burning energy plants that generate power channeled by substations resembling museum pieces. What little electricity supply exists is frequently targeted by militias who boast of their intent to return the society (literally) to the dark ages. Sewer lines have only been dug in the most affluent areas and city roads are, at best, rudimentary. </p> <p>With a national election looming in early March, al-Maliki knows that his current base of support across Iraq’s religious and ethnic divides is fragile. Failure to give Iraqis the essential services they have long craved — especially electricity, water, and sewerage –will likely spell his doom. Twice this fall, he has traveled to the Shia bastion of Basra to assess the plight of the Shatt al-Arab and to persuade locals that all is not lost. It is a hard sell for the people of the south, who collectively still see themselves as being as deeply deprived today as they were under Saddam. </p> <p>For the prime minister to blame his nation’s neighbors for water woes is unlikely to fly. Beyond the troubles over the water supply, al-Maliki has pointedly accused Syria of destabilizing Iraq by sheltering former Baathists, who, he claims, funded two bombing campaigns that targeted three government ministries and the Baghdad municipal government headquarters in August and October. All four buildings were annihilated, with almost 300 people killed and more than 1,000 maimed. While wagging his finger at Damascus, al-Maliki has also been constantly promising patronage to the southern tribes and an entrée to state coffers if they fall in behind him. Months before a definitive election and amid an unparalleled ecological crisis, the tribes are, at best, restless. And water is near the top of their worry list. </p> <p><b></b> </p> <p>Enough Blame to Go Around </p> </p> <p>“The government didn’t do this directly, it’s true,” says tribesman Maher al-Zubaidi, as he surveys the shrinking Euphrates in Nasiriyah. “But they tell us they are strong now and yet they can’t stand up to the Turks. Wars have started in this region for a lot less. Also, Iraq constantly cries poor, yet we read about the trade minister taking a cut from every kilo of imported grain and see enormous revenues from oil. The time has long past for them to deliver.” </p> <p>The Turks, though sympathetic to the plight of their downstream neighbors, lay much of the blame at the feet of Iraqi bureaucrats who have done next to nothing to protect an already precious natural resource from atrocious water management practices. It is not uncommon to see burst water-mains spouting geysers through Baghdad’s parched suburbs or across village roads, quickly mixing with refuse and oil, turning into giant molasses-like pools. Almost all public taps invariably leak, and environmental awareness is close to nonexistent. </p> <p>Publicly, Turkey will say nothing on the subject of its water dispute with Iraq, other than that it is working with both Syria and Iran to remedy the situation and has agreed to share daily technical data with both sides on flows. After recent floods near Istanbul, a limited extra release was allowed into the Euphrates system. It was soon stopped. The saga was symptomatic of Iraq’s dilemma and its lack of means to do much about it. Again, Baghdad had to make do with what its neighbors could spare on a good day. Iraq is yet to press its case for water rights under international law and, with its hand weakened by so many ongoing woes, the government does not currently hold much sway in the region. </p> <p>The torpor is of no comfort to Iraq’s downstream dwellers. Back in al-Akeryah Marshlands, Awda Khasaf kicks a splintering skiff that used to ply the lowland waterways. The last six months, he says, have changed everything. “If the Turks release all the water that used to come down the Euphrates, then the Marshes will fill up again within two months and we will recover. But that is not going to happen. They caught the government off guard while it was obsessed with the war and now they have a chokehold on us. This has had a revolutionary effect. The Turks have the upper-hand and until we are strong enough to stand up for ourselves, all we can do is pray for a flood. Look at them. They are not serious about helping us. They are trying to build another dam [the Ilus hydroelectric plant planned for southeastern Turkey, on the northern reaches of the Tigris]. Only when we can stand up can we address this. For now…” He leaves the last thought hanging, possibly conjuring up the same apocalyptic vision that started our conversation: only the good Lord can save us. </p> <p>In the short term, it would appear that divine intervention is Iraq’s best hope. The means to address water management effectively seem decades away. Much of the country’s infrastructure belongs in scrap yards or exhibits of nineteenth-century industrial artifacts. Re-laying water pipes nationwide for urban water delivery would likely take the better part of a generation. Desalination has been considered during cabinet meetings and projects have been offered by investors from the cash-rich Gulf states, which rely heavily, if not exclusively, on desalinated water. But Iraqi officials have so far described the costs as prohibitive. “It might work out for a small state like Abu Dhabi that doesn’t need tens of thousands of kilometers of pipeline,” says one minister. “But for us, it is a non-starter for now.” </p> <p><b></b> </p> <p>Globalization Woes </p> </p> <p>The crisis of 2009 has revealed some domestic inefficiencies that Iraq’s farmers will struggle to reverse. Wholesalers have been able to import and distribute fresh produce at market rates that compete successfully with what domestic consumers would have paid for locally grown produce. Hundreds of tons of bananas have been flown in from Somalia, watermelons from Iran, rice from the Far East, and bottled water from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. </p> <p>Water woes are playing a big part in turning Iraq into a net food importer. But so are the cost-efficient alternatives introduced to the Iraqi market by companies in both developing states and Western nations, all of which are clamoring to service some 20 million people who, for the most part, have always relied on homegrown produce. </p> <p>Apart from small pockets that can still harness water from the Euphrates, much of Iraq’s politically and strategically critical Anbar province is now a dust bowl. So, too, is Diyala province, north of Baghdad, which boasts some of the most fertile alluvial soil in the land. Both areas were ground zero for the Sunni militancy — Anbar the so-called triangle of death, Diyala the declared heartland of a new Islamic caliphate in 2006. The al-Maliki government had hoped to appease insurgents with the promise of prosperity. But as 2009 draws to a close, the notion seems fanciful. Family incomes are down substantially in many areas. The violence, successfully quelled throughout the past two years, is again on the rise, especially in Anbar. </p> <p>Iraq’s provinces and some of its most dangerous towns have been the focus of work throughout the past five years by American reconstruction teams, especially the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which in October wound up its mission. The engineers left, claiming that 21.2 million Iraqis now had access to potable drinking water, up from just over 5 million people immediately after the invasion. Last year, in the giant Sadr City slum in Baghdad’s northeast, the Army Corps built a treatment plant which draws and purifies water from the Tigris. The net effect, the Army claims, has been an increase from 46 to 200 in the per capita liters of water per day for Sadr City residents. The bill for the project was $65 million. </p> <p>In all, the engineers completed 25 large water distribution projects across the country as well as 800 smaller water sector projects that delivered potable water to many Iraqis who had no such luxury before Saddam fell. But now the engineers are gone. Gone with them is the bulk of America’s capacity to do more good works before the White House orders the last troops out late next year. </p> <p>Water distribution at the micro level is undoubtedly better than it was. But in a macro sense, the efforts amount to a small splash in a large pond. Iraq has giant subterranean lakes of another precious resource — oil — under the soil at both ends of the country and appears to be betting its future on turning anticipated revenues into purchasing power and regional clout today. </p> <p>Oil is Iraq’s meal ticket — a buffer against both drought and geopolitical impotence. The cabinet has been absorbed over the past six months with finding a formula that offers foreign investors enough financial incentives to bring their expertise to the badlands, while at the same time retaining control of the oil sector and the billions of petro-dollars it is likely to produce. But while the promise of future riches and power may see the waters flow again one day, on the barren plains of Iraq’s south a simpler business plan is taking shape. </p> <p>Alongside the highway between Baghdad and Basra — a giant, Saddam-era, four-lane road built to move tanks and troops — a rare agricultural success story is emerging. To travel this road in 2005-06 was to almost guarantee a run-in with a militia group, or an angry burst of bullets fired from a nearby sand berm. It remained a no-go zone to most non-Iraqis until the middle of 2008. By then, scorched wrecks of tankers lined the highway along with the charred chassis of the occasional American Hummer or private security company four-wheel-drive vehicle, conspicuous by its blackened, rusting bulk. </p> <p>Even today, giant scabs of charred bitumen are missing along the entire stretch to Basra, legacies of improvised bombs and aerial strikes that turned Iraq’s main arterial highway into a Mad Max-like wasteland. But now, dozens of salt farms line both sides of the road. There had always been a small salt industry, especially in the center of Iraq, near the cities of Babylon and Najaf, but with rapid water depletion turning lakes into shallow, salinated pools, dozens of small enterprises have now sprung up. Salt, piled in pyramid-style heaps, pockmarks the horizon of a barren landscape once covered in year-round sheets of water. One farmer sold his flock of goats to concentrate on salt. “I have around 190 kilos here,” he says, pointing at his pile. “It’s much more [profit] than I will get this year from dates.” </p> <p>The salt is then taken to market in Baghdad, where a small export industry is tipped to develop this year. Until the oil money kicks in or its neighbors turn on the taps again, success in the salt pans is likely to be a rare high-water mark for Iraq. In the short term, it would appear that divine intervention is Iraq’s best hope. The means to address water management effectively seems decades away. </p> <p><b></b> </p> <p>Martin Chulov is the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/martin-chulov" class="external" target="_blank">Baghdad correspondent </a>for the Guardian of London.</p> </p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=36192" class="external" target="_blank">Middle East Online</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-7584"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/10/23/iraq-accuses-iran-of-water-theft-video-report/#respond" title="Comment on Iraq accuses Iran of water theft | Video Report">No Comments</a></span> Posted on October 23rd, 2009 by Editors</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/10/23/iraq-accuses-iran-of-water-theft-video-report/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Iraq accuses Iran of water theft | Video Report">Iraq accuses Iran of water theft | Video Report</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/category/video-reports/" title="View all posts in Video Reports" rel="category tag">Video Reports</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-jazeera-broadcasting/" rel="tag">Al Jazeera Broadcasting</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-saleh/" rel="tag">al saleh</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-jazeera/" rel="tag">al-Jazeera</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-karoon-river/" rel="tag">al-Karoon river</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/fao/" rel="tag">Fao</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iran/" rel="tag">Iran</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/rate-of-flow/" rel="tag">rate of flow</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/salinity-excessive/" rel="tag">Salinity - excessive</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/shat-al-arab/" rel="tag">Shat al-Arab</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/video-reports/" rel="tag">Video Reports</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-resources/" rel="tag">water resources</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-supply/" rel="tag">water supply</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water-theft/" rel="tag">water theft</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ac%d8%b2%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a9%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">الجزيرة‎</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>Iran is being accused by Iraq of stealing its water. This video report from al-Jazeera has more details:</p> <p><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kvimu0a1HtY&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713oe_/http://www.youtube.com/v/kvimu0a1HtY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></p> <blockquote><p>Baghdad says that Tehran is diverting rivers that connect to the Shat-el-Arab waterway, which flows into the Gulf. <br/>Tehran denies the claims, which include allegations that they have also indirectly polluted the water supply. <br/>Omar Al-Saleh reports on why Iraq’s minister of water resources is pursuing the argument. </p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvimu0a1HtY" class="external" target="_blank">YouTube – Iraq accuses Iran of water theft – 23 Oct 09</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"></div> <div class="alignright"></div> </div> </div> <div id="sidebar" class="span-10 last"> <div class="span-10" id="tabs"> <ul> <li class="ui-tabs-nav-item"><a href="#featured-articles">Featured Articles</a></li> <li class="ui-tabs-nav-item"><a href="#latest-articles">Latest Articles</a></li> </ul> <div id="featured-articles" class="widget"> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130125194713/http://gorillasguides.com/2012/04/19/hezbollah-says-latest-bombings-in-iraq-thwart-mission-to-build-state/">Hezbollah says latest bombings in Iraq “thwart mission to build state”</a></li> <li><a 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