Mediaboss Marketing

LAKE SAWA, Iraq (AP) Hussam al-Aqouli remembers the exact spot along southern Iraqs Lake Sawa where his two daughters once dipped their feet into clear waters. Now he stands there two years on and the barren earth cracks beneath him.

This year, for the first time in its centuries-long history, the lake dried up. A combination of mismanagement by local investors, government neglect and climate change has ground down its azure shores to chunks of salt.

Lake Sawa is only the latest casualty in this broad country-wide struggle with water shortages that experts say is induced by climate change, including record low rainfall and back-to-back drought. The stress on water resources is driving up competition for the precious resource among businessmen, farmers and herders, with the poorest Iraqis counting among the worst hit amid the disaster.

This lake was known as the pearl of the south, said al-Aqouli, 35, a native of the nearby city of Samawa, looking out onto the dry cavernous emptiness. Now it is our tragedy.

Between the capital Baghdad and the oil-rich heartland of Basra, Muthanna is among Iraqs poorest provinces. The number of those living under the poverty line in the province is almost three times the national average.

Desert expanses dominate the landscape with a narrow ribbon of farmland along the Euphrates River in the north. Economic development was hindered by the countrys turbulent history, neglect by the Baath party regime since the 1980s, then later by wars and sanctions.

Locals call the area surrounding Lake Sawa atshan or simply thirsty in Arabic.

Formed over limestone rock and studded with gypsum formations, the lake has no inlet or outlet and the source of its waters had mystified experts for centuries, fueling fantastical folklore and religious tales that locals recite as historical fact.

Al-Aqouli spent his childhood frequenting the lake with his family. He hoped he could do the same when he started a family, he said. Instead he spends his days on social media writing long blog posts and urging Iraqis to take action. Often, he feels hopeless.

Story continues

The lake rises 5 meters (16 feet) above sea level and is about 4.5 kilometers (3 miles) long and 1.8 kilometers (1 mile) wide.

Lake Sawa appears in some old Islamic texts. It is said the lake miraculously formed on the day the Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. Thousands of religious tourists visited the site annually to submerge themselves in its holy waters, which they believe are blessed by God.

The lakes rich mineral deposits are also considered a cure by some for skin diseases prevalent in historically neglected Muthanna.

Locals say the drying up of the waters of Lake Sawa presages the return of the Imam al-Mahdi, a revered figure in Shiite Islam and a descendent of the prophet.

It means the end of days is near, said al-Aqouli, in jest.

For environmentalists, the doomsday predictions may not be far off.

Studies have shown the lake is fed by underground water sources through a system of cracks and fissures. It can also receive rainwater from surrounding valleys and heavy rainfall in past years has caused flash floods.

The degradation of the water began over 10 years ago, but this summer was the first time we lost the entire wetland, said Laith Ali al-Obeidi, an environmental activist in southern Iraq.

Experts said the lake has not dried up for good but its disappearance this year is a concerning consequence of the thousands of illegal wells dug by businessmen in nearby cement factories and manufacturing zones, a result of drought and decreasing waters along the nearby Euphrates.

By early June, some water began to reappear because farmers, done with the harvest season, stopped diverting underground water.

Mounds of salt line the road to the river in Muthanna province and are overseen by enterprising locals who extract it by diverting groundwater and digging wells. The salt is used as a raw material in various industries in the area.

Mortadha Ali, 45, is involved in the salt business in Muthanna. He blames years of government neglect in the province for the disappearance of Lake Sawa. They should provide people with jobs, so they arent obliged to dig wells to make a living, he said.

Enforcing the closure of illegal wells and additional protective measures would have reversed Lake Sawa's decline, said Aoun Diab, an adviser to the Water Resources Ministry. But these would have directly affected the economic interests of provincial officials.

This has disrupted a delicate and interdependent ecosystem sustained by the rare desert oasis.

Species of fish, unfit for human consumption, were food for various vulnerable migratory birds that sojourned along its banks. With the fish gone, the birds too will have to reroute their seasonal passage or perish, said al-Obeidi.

And the future is poised to bring more hardship, with alarming predictions of more water stress. The Water Resources Ministry has said water levels decreased by 60% compared to last year in 2022.

Lake Sawa is a case study for climate change in Iraq, al-Obeidi said. This is the future.

But the lake is also a ghost of its former illustrious past.

The only body of water near to the city of Samawah, the area boasted thousands of tourists a year. Their waste water bottles, soda cans and abandoned flip flops remain along the dried up shores as an ode to what the impoverished area has lost.

Holiday installations built decades ago stand half-finished. Most were looted after the Gulf War in the 1990s and then after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

In 2014, Lake Sawa was named a Ramsar site, an international designation for important wetlands, gaining recognition as a rare area in need of protection. A large billboard marking the occasion overlooks the site. Local authorities hoped this would boost tourism and government resources to resume development of the area. Plans were drafted to pave roads and walkways around the lake, as well as electricity lines and water projects.

Ultimately, these failed to transpire.

The hot air was heavy as al-Aqouli took one last look of the lake before leaving.

Believe me, it was beautiful, he said.

See the article here:
Iraq's 'pearl of the south' Lake Sawa dry amid water crisis

Five years ago, Iraqi taxi driver Osama Mohammed would make about six trips a day across Baghdad. Today, traffic is so bad he feels lucky to do three.

"The first thing you see in the morning is traffic jams," said 40-year-old Mohammed, describing his "exhaustion" at the stop-and-go traffic he endures across the sprawling capital.

It has become so bad that he now often turns down fares.

"It is better to forget about it because you will spend two hours on the road," he said. "Your day will end in traffic jams."

Experts point at many reasons for the growing chaos: a post-war mini boom has brought more people and more cars, while the war-battered infrastructure has barely changed.

Security checkpoints still add to the gridlock, a legacy of the years of war and sectarian conflict when Baghdad was rocked by frequent car bombings.

Most importantly, political paralysis and a state sector hobbled by widespread corruption have snarled road and rail projects that could bring relief.

In a city of eight million, the number of vehicles has surged from 350,000 before 2007 to over 2.5 million today, said Baghdad municipality spokesman Mohammed al-Rubaye.

The research group Future of Iraq estimates that the fuel each vehicle wastes daily by idling in Baghdad traffic jams is equivalent to driving 20 kilometres (12 miles).

The problem intensifies air pollution in a country already struggling with more frequent sandstorms, a trend linked to climate change, and blistering summer heat that peaks above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

- Legacy of war -

Baghdad's roadside concrete blast walls may have largely gone, but decades of war have left a legacy of pockmarked roads and dilapidated infrastructure.

The country suffered through the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the US-led invasion in 2003, years of sectarian fighting and the battle against the Islamic State group's jihadists who were finally defeated in 2017.

Since then, entire new neighbourhoods and high-rise buildings have sprung up, such as the futuristic new central bank headquarters designed by the firm of late Iraqi-British star architect Zaha Hadid.

The relative stability has accelerated domestic migration, particularly an influx of labourers from the impoverished south.

But the capital still lacks a robust public transport system, with no trains or trams and only infrequent buses.

A metro rail system would "reduce congestion by 40 percent", estimated Rubaye, but for now this is a distant dream.

One such project was envisioned in 2011 with French firm Alstom. And in 2020 a letter of intent was signed to develop a 20-kilometre (12-mile) 14-station elevated metro system.

Some $45 million has already been spent on the project plans, according to former Baghdad governor Faleh al-Jazairi, but with no visible impact so far.

- 'More cars than people' -

The large infrastructure projects have been stalled amid political logjams in Iraq's dysfunctional parliament.

Since Iraq held legislative elections in October, the MPs have failed to elect a new president and government, due to political wrangling among powerful Shiite factions.

The inaction and waste are exacerbated by large-scale graft in a country ranked among the worst in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

And so the rush-hour traffic keeps grinding to a standstill on Abu Nawas road, the capital's main thoroughfare running along the bank of the Tigris River.

A police traffic officer who gave his name only as Hussein grumbled that many roads "haven't been modernised" for decades and that now "it's like there are more cars than people".

Some suggest that in Iraq, known in Arabic as the Land of the Two Rivers, water transport on the Tigris could offer a much-needed remedy to the city's traffic problem.

But for now, only a handful of tourist boats ply its waves, offering views of another wartime legacy, the heavily fortified "Green Zone" district of government buildings and embassies.

The prospect of a riverine public transport system seems unlikely, opined one resident, Yasser al-Saffar.

"Everyone who lives in the Green Zone," he said, "will consider such a project a threat."

Original post:
Life in the slow lane for Iraq's gridlocked traffic - Al-Monitor

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqs Army Chief of Staff, Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah, met on Tuesday with the commander of NATO Mission in Iraq, General Giovanni Iannucci, to discuss several topics, according to a statement of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense cited by the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

The statement mentioned that the meeting was attended by advisors of the NATO mission in Iraq, Director of Infantry, Director of Military Training and some specialized military officers.

The meeting discussed the cooperation with the NATO mission in Iraq in terms of training and providing advisory to develop the capabilities of the Iraqi army, according to the statement.

Iannucci held another meeting on Tuesday with the General Military Inspector, Imad Yassin Al-Zuhairi, where both discussed a mechanism for developing and modernizing the military system in terms of training, education, coordination and joint cooperation, according to a press statement issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

During the meeting, Al-Zuhairi confirmed that Iraq has a strong partnership with the NATO, and the NATO has a major role in training the Iraqi armed forces, and helping Iraq in its war against ISIS terrorists because of the intensive military experience of the NATO.

Iannucci commended the role of the Iraqi army and its military capabilities in the fight against terrorism. He also confirmed the need to maintain the communication and cooperation with Iraq, especially with the Ministry of Defense.

Follow this link:
NATO commander in Iraq discusses cooperation with Iraqi Armed Forces officials - Iraqi News

14 June 2022; Baghdad, Iraq - The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Council of Ministers Secretariat (COMSEC), in partnership with the Women Empowerment Department (WED), and support from the United Kingdom, Sweden, France and Canada, organised a two-day conference to address early marriage in Iraq.

The conference, which took place on 11-12 June, recognised the alarming situation with early marriage which has increased from %21.7 to %25.5 for the past ten years in Iraq.

The event brought together government entities, local authorities, religious and tribal leaders, civil society organisations, young people, academia, and representatives of the international and donor community to discuss the root causes of early marriage, its impact and solutions to address it.

Representatives of the government of Iraq and the government of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, ambassadors, tribal and religious leaders, academia and experts shared profound evidence on the devastating consequences of early marriage on the socio-economic progress, psychological and physical health of young girls and boys, families, communities and society at large.

UNFPA Representative of Iraq, Dr Rita Columbia, said: Tribal communities and young people affected by early marriage have asked us to raise our voice and advocate more for women and girls rights and empowerment and take a step forward in addressing early marriage in Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region. This event shows the criticality of reducing early marriage to fulfill the rights of girls and women, and accelerate achievement of SDGs in Iraq.

The conference participants discussed and elaborated recommendations that will be taken by the Women Empowerment Directorate under the leadership of the Secretary-General of the COMSEC to support the local authorities to reduce and prevent early marriage in Iraq.

The Early Marriage is #NotNormal also includes a social media campaign and a partnership with Rakutens Viber to promote the end of early marriage.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, delivers a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young persons potential is fulfilled.

For more information or media inquiries please contact: Salwa Moussa, Communications Specialist, smoussa@unfpa.org

Go here to see the original:
Government of Iraq, UNFPA organise the First National Conference to Address Early Marriage [EN/AR] - Iraq - ReliefWeb

Last week, Iraqi security forces arrested two people in the Euphrates agricultural town of Mishkhab after a protest over water shortages and the lack of public services.

The authorities immediately charged them with belonging to Saddam Husseins former ruling Baath Party and attempts to glorify the notorious dictator.

The reason behind the detention was the slogans the protesters shouted, which praised the former tyrants rule and showed resentment towards his successors who have given them little of what they had hoped for in post-Saddam Iraq.

The Mishkhab incident may not signal the phenomenon of nostalgia for the Saddam era in Iraq, even though many Iraqis still believe their country was better under a dictator renowned for his brutal repression, but it underscores how its traumatic past is still haunting Iraq and dividing the nation.

This haunting question came to mind last week when a senior UN diplomat mandated to help Iraq rebuild, urged Iraqis to ignore the horror and the deaths in their recent history caused by the Islamic State (IS) group and suggested that they should suppress the trauma they had sustained.

On 8 June, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert urged the Iraqi authorities to repatriate thousands of IS-linked nationals detained in a camp in northeastern Syria, declaring that the best and only durable solution is to control the situation, managing returns swiftly and decisively, in the spirit of partnership, to prevent the legacy of yesterdays fight from fuelling tomorrows conflict.

Keeping people in restricted and poor conditions ultimately creates greater protection and security risks than taking them back in a controlled manner. Iraq is demonstrating that responsible repatriations are possible by finding dignified solutions anchored in the principles of both accountability and reintegration, Plasschaert said in a statement released by her office.

She made her remarks after a tour with a UN delegation to the Al-Hol Camp designed to highlight a so-called UN-led support rehabilitation initiative to repatriate IS detainees in northeastern Syria. She was accompanied by the chief of Iraqs National Security Service.

The camp, a sprawling complex of tents that has hosted tens of thousands of people suspected of having links with IS for many years, is under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group which rules over much of northeastern Syria.

Plasschaerts public appeal echoes the quiet diplomacy pursued by many Western stakeholders, which have been privately urging Iraqi government leaders to support the return of Iraqi families from the Al-Hol Camp.

The Western media have also been playing up the dire conditions in the camp, though some of it has blamed their governments for the plight of the families.

Iraq has said it is determined to repatriate all the families stuck in the Syrian camp after security checks are completed. It has also urged the international community to help it set up re-integration programmes for the returnees.

The Al-Hol Camp, where about 57,000 people, almost half of them children, live, is considered one of the most violent detention and displacement camps on earth. It has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism.

Since March 2019, there have been at least 130 murders in the main Al-Hol Camp, home to Syrian and Iraqi men, women, and children associated with IS. But the Al-Hol Annex, which houses displaced women and children from the Syrian Civil War, has also been insecure.

The already precarious humanitarian and security conditions have deteriorated further in recent months, making the risks associated with this slow-moving catastrophe ever clearer. A camp like Al-Hol fuels resentment and inspires terrorists to commit everything from breakout operations to large-scale attacks.

In October 2020, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced plans to release all the Syrian nationals from the camp, which account for about half of the population.

That process has been hampered by significant obstacles in areas outside of government control, however, while the regime led by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad remains uninterested in their repatriation.

After the release of the Syrian nationals, there would still remain some 10,000 people from other nationalities in the camp from 40 other countries. There have been repeated calls from Iraqi officials asking the international community to repatriate its nationals from Al-Hol, but only a few countries have responded positively to the calls citing security concerns.

The UN is concentrating its efforts on over 25,000 Iraqis whom it wants Iraq to take back despite the fears of the Baghdad authorities, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the general Iraqi public that the returnees could be a time bomb.

So far, over 2,500 Iraqis have been repatriated to Iraq. But as the UN and some Western governments are increasing the pressure on the Iraqi authorities to take back more, leaving them in a quandary as they realise the country is not ready to provide the required post-return security and accommodation.

Five years after the conflict in Iraq ended, many of the physical, emotional, and psychological wounds of the war remain unhealed. The end of the conflict was nevertheless presented as the beginning of a new era of peace, national healing, and reconstruction in Iraq and the closure of ISs bloody chapter.

For many people in parts of the country where the worst IS atrocities were experienced, there can be no reconciliation when so many scars of the war remain. On Saturday, Iraq marked the eighth anniversary of the IS massacre of 1,700 Iraqi soldiers during its 2015 blitzkrieg, with many of the bodies still unaccounted for.

On 8 June, an official in the Iraqi Anbar Province told the local media that the security forces in the province expect trouble next week when some 500 families of IS affiliates are due to arrive from Al-Hol.

He said that many local people have vowed to take revenge on the returnees, who are accused of committing atrocities after the group captured the province in 2015.

Local people in Mosul have also protested against the authorities giving accommodation to some 100 families returning from Al-Hol in the Al-Jadda Camp in the south of the province. Some of the women in the camp have acknowledged links to IS through relatives, but others have denied having had anything to do with the terrorist group.

Nearly three and a half years after the IS caliphate in Iraq was declared defeated, reports abound that the terror group is mounting raids in many parts of northern and central Iraq. IS militants have been carrying out daily hit-and-run attacks, killing soldiers, members of the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF), and civilians.

On 20 January, IS-affiliated militants attacked a prison near the city of Al-Hassakeh in northeastern Syria in the hope of freeing their jailed comrades, leaving hundreds dead on both sides.

The brazen attack was the latest evidence of ISs resurgence and sent a message to the Iraqi authorities that the group has significant military capacities and remains defiant about making a comeback.

The hasty rehabilitation of IS militants in Iraq also bodes ill for many countries in the Middle East that are engaged in their own wars against IS branches. Al-Hol serves as a key hub for the regions violent extremists and terror networks, and many countries will feel threatened if their nationals in the camp are let go.

Moreover, Plasschaerts suggestion will certainly undermine strategies adopted by many governments in the region to counter the radical hate-fuelled ideology of IS that is considered conducive to the production of extremism and terrorism.

But rather than taking responsibility for the failure to address this overwhelming challenge, the top UN official in Iraq has resorted to the standard tactic of running away from the problem and blaming it on the weakest link in the global war on terrorism.

Media reports about the dire conditions in the Al-Hol Camp and its being a tinderbox for terrorism have served as a call to action, but the international community has not decisively answered calls to tackle the crisis involving facilities holding IS detainees, including foreign nationals.

Aside from the Iraqi children, there are over 7,300 minors from 60 countries across the globe living in the Al-Hol Camp, according to Save the Children, an international NGO, but its repeated appeals to these childrens governments to urgently step up efforts to repatriate them along with their families have fallen on deaf ears.

Instead of giving room to apologists for those governments that refuse to repatriate their IS-linked nationals or actors who want to exploit opportunities afforded by their inaction, the UN chief diplomat in Iraq should work for much-needed international efforts to address this global challenge collectively.

A version of this article appears in print in the 16 June, 2022 edition ofAl-Ahram Weekly.

Short link:

Originally posted here:
What the UN wants: Iraq's new dilemma - World - Al-Ahram Weekly - Ahram Online