Living
Becomes Hard In A Dead City
By Ahmed Ali
24 July, 2007
Inter Press Service
BAQUBA, Jul 23 (IPS)
- Life in the violence-plagued capital city of Iraq's Diyala province
has become a struggle for day-to-day survival.
Heavy U.S military operations,
sectarian death squads and al-Qaeda militants have combined to make
normal life in Baquba, 50 km northeast of Baghdad, all but impossible.
Movement from the city to
another destination is extremely dangerous. Kidnappings have become
rampant in a lawless city where government control is only a mirage.
Lack of security and mobility
have meant severe shortages of fuel, food, medical supplies and other
necessities.
The central market in the
city of about 325,000 has vanished. It is not just the shopping that
is gone. People used to meet acquaintances in the market to socialise
and sometimes do business.
The ongoing violence has
ended all that. The market has become scattered around city districts.
Many shop owners have reopened smaller shops within their houses, and
abandoned their business locations.
About two or three persons
have been killed or abducted in the market daily on average in recent
weeks. This had started to happen even before the U.S. military operation
Arrowhead Ripper was launched last month with the intention of targeting
al-Qaeda forces. Now residents say it is much worse.
"The troops have closed
all the outlets from the city, and never allow cars to move," Amir
Ayad, a 51-year-old assistant professor in the sciences college at Diyala
University told IPS. "To get my college, I have to get a cart as
other people do. It is five kilometres, and it is better than walking."
"For the final examinations
which were held unfortunately during this period of military operations,
students had to walk hours to get to the exam centre," Prof. Majeed
Abid told IPS. "They were exhausted and sweating."
Animal-drawn carts have now
become a new business in Baquba. Most of these are drawn by donkeys,
and each cart carries 10-15 passengers who pay two to three dollars
a journey.
"Every day I bring vegetables
four kilometres by cart and pay 25-35 dollars for this," 29-year-old
Adil Omran told IPS. "For this reason, the prices have increased
tremendously."
"A tomato, which is
grown commonly in Iraq, is usually around six cents," said Mahmood
Ali, a retired teacher. "Nowadays, we buy it for 1.25 dollar. Families
now tend to buy one or two bags of potatoes (30 kilos each) because
they cannot afford the increasing prices of other vegetables."
Complicating matters is the
already unsteady disbursement of salaries due to the volatile security
situation.
"Officials used to receive
their salaries every month, but for a year and a half now we receive
our salaries only every 50-70 days," Kadhim Raad, a 44-year-old
official in the municipality of Baquba told IPS.
"The staff at the Ministry
of Education have not received their salaries for three months because
no money is available in the banks," Sara Latif, an official in
the finance department of the Directorate General of Education told
IPS.
People are now looking for
ways to leave this city of continuing violence, delayed salaries, lack
of jobs, lack of open markets, closed factories, no functioning municipal
work, and very little farming due to lack of water and electricity.
The average house in Baquba
gets one or two hours of electricity a day. It is not uncommon for three
or four days to pass without a minute of electricity.
Most people have bought small
generators, but lack of fuel often makes it impossible to run these.
Before the U.S.-led invasion, a litre of petrol in Iraq cost five cents;
today in Baquba it is nearly two dollars.
There are no functioning
fuel stations. Instead, people buy 20-litre jugs.
"People have forgotten
there is something called a petrol station," Hamid Alwan, a 46-year-old
taxi driver told IPS. "The owners of petrol stations sell the tankers
of petrol before they are brought to Baquba to make more money."
And all this is less than
the biggest concern – to find a way just to stay
safe.
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