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Plethora of opportunities
and safety makes Sulaimaniyah's job market appealing
for Arab workers.
Kurdistan (Iraq), - Thousands of Arab
labourers have flocked to Sulaimaniyah to work in
the construction and service industries of this safe
Kurdish city.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 1993,
Sulaimaniyah became a magnet for workers from other
parts of the country, especially the western city of
Mosul and central and southern Iraq. People fled the
poor security situation in these unstable regions to
find work in Sulaimaniyah's booming economy.
According to the city’s passport and residency
department, approximately 6,000 labourers from
outside Sulaimaniyah province are working here. But
officials believe the number is higher because
people often turn up without registering with the
authorities. The figure is expected to grow further
as violence hinders economic development across much
of the rest of the country.
Arab workers are primarily employed as day labourers
in construction or in menial jobs in hotels and
restaurants. They are paid a maximum of 15 US
dollars a day, while many Kurds in Sulaimaniyah - a
relatively expensive city by Iraqi standards -
demand as much as 40 per cent more for similar jobs.
Business owners say they are profiting from the
cheaper labour and their businesses are growing as a
result.
Mariwan Abbas, director of the Dyako construction
company in Sulaimaniyah, said most of his workers
come from other parts of Iraq, and estimates that he
saves 1,000 dollars a month using Arab labourers,
who are also willing to work longer hours than
Kurdish employees.
"They work for less money, and we can work with them
during night time," said Abbas. "This helps us save
a lot of money. They're a good way to raise
profits."
"They're very good for us," agreed Haji Hassan,
owner of a small restaurant in downtown Sulaimaniyah
that employs and serves the workers. "Since they've
come here our business has increased tenfold."
Despite the fact that Arabs are of a different
ethnicity and speak a different language, several
interviewed by IWPR said they are mostly happy in
Sulaimaniyah because it is safer than their home
towns and work is more widely available. Some who
have decided to stay have learned Kurdish, as few
people in Sulaimaniyah are fluent in Arabic.
Their living conditions are basic, however, and many
share rooms in cheap hotels or flats. Arab labourers
tend to flock to Sulaimaniyah in the spring and
summer, when they can sleep in parks or on their
building sites rather than pay rent in the city's
inflated housing market.
The Arab incomers are in many ways treated as
foreigners in Iraqi Kurdistan, a region which was
persecuted by Saddam’s regime and where suspicions
of Arabs remain high. The “Asayeesh”, Kurdistan's
security and intelligence force, requires that Arab
labourers register with police as a way of guarding
against terrorism, according to general Muhsin
Osman, head of the passport and residency
directorate.
Arab labourers are often the first suspects in the
rare cases of violence here. They were rounded up
after several car bombs killed 13 people in
Sulaimaniyah in October, although the security
agencies later determined that it was Kurds who
carried out the attacks.
Emran Saad, 34, from the central city of Karbala,
has worked in Sulaimaniyah for eight months and says
he doesn't mind the security checks, "These
procedures are necessary so that Kurdistan won't
become like [other parts] of Iraq."
The labourers said they earn between 300 and 500
dollars a month, most of which they send back to
their families. Many prefer to stay in Sulaimaniyah
three to four months at a time and return home in
winter to be with their families.
Labourers said being away from their wives and
children is the most difficult part of working in
Sulaimaniyah, but many feel they have few other
options.
Yasir Ezzadin, 37, from Baqubah in the central Iraqi
province of Diyala, has been married for 13 years
and has four children. He calls his family every day
just to check how they are.
"I'm always thinking about my children. I'm afraid
one day when they go to school, a bomb will go off
and they'll be killed, because [Baqubah] is not
safe," he said.
Saleem al-Khafaji, 28, also from Baqubah, moved to
Sulaimaniyah in 2003 to work as a labourer. He
returned home a year later to get married, then
moved back north with his wife.
"In [Baqubah] it's not only that there are no job
opportunities," said al-Khafaji, who works in
construction. "Even if they are available, you're
scared to work because of poor security."
Some Kurdish workers said they resent the Arab
labourers for making it more difficult for them to
find work and for bringing wage levels down.
"I hate these workers," said Halgurd Omar, who said
that over the last two years he’s seen his salary
cut by a third, to 400 dollars a month.
While some labourers have learned a little Kurdish,
they spend of their time with other Arabs. They have
found that Sunnis and Shias can coexist easily here
even as the divide between the two communities
appear to grow larger in other parts of Iraq.
"We are Shias and Sunnis working together," said
Hassan Asi, a 35-year-old Shia from Najaf who is
working with Sunni Arab friends to tile a
seven-storey building. "Even though we are of
different sects, in Sulaimaniyah sectarianism is not
a problem for us."
Amanj Khalil is an IWPR trainee journalist in
Sulaimaniyah.
www.iwpr.net
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