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Iraqi Kurdistan Region, safe and
well-protected but lacking services and corrupt
politicians
18.1.2007 |
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Erbil, Kurdistan
Region (Iraq), -- Unlike other parts of the country,
the three-province autonomous northern region of
Kurdistan is not the Iraq of roadside bombs and
beheadings. It is relatively safe and well-protected
by an experienced security force. Locals and
foreigners alike can walk around freely and there is
even an active nightlife.
"Have you seen the other parts of Iraq? It's
spectacular. It's peaceful," states a website
advertisement to lure tourists and investors to
Kurdistan, which consists of Sulaimaniyah, Dahuk and
Erbil provinces.
"Welcome to Iraqi Kurdistan where democracy has been
practiced for over a decade. This is not a dream.
It's the other Iraq," adds the advertisement.
However, not all Kurds are in accordance with the
picture painted of their region by advertisements or
politicians.
"If political parties in the government of Kurdistan
do not invest in peace and prosperity for the
interest of the people of Kurdistan, then they will
face internal pressure from an angry people, which
could lead to everything collapsing," Dr Azad Ahmed
Qader, a retired political professor in Sulaimaniyah,
said.
"There is no real democracy in Kurdistan. Press
freedom is marginalised and people can't express
opposing views about anything without fear of being
jailed and tortured. Corruption is everywhere and
the residents know that these politicians are just
businessmen," Qader added.
One thing that all Kurds agree on is that the level
of violence in the north is far lower than in other
parts of the country.
A police officer, who spoke only on condition of
anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to media,
said Kurdistan has witnessed just 10 bomb blasts
since the US-led occupation of Iraq began in 2003.
He added that 60 civilians had been killed and about
100 others wounded since then.
Over the past three years, there have been just
three violent incidents in Erbil, two in
Sulaimaniyah and five in Dahuk. All these attacks
were directed against political party headquarters
and army and police checkpoints and patrols.
Poor basic services
While a far cry from the mayhem and bloodshed that
typify a day in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, or other
restive regions of the country, the northern Iraqi
provinces that make up Kurdistan continue to suffer
poor basic services.
Qadir Hama Jam, director of Sulaimaniyah
municipality, said that local authorities in
Kurdistan are struggling to keep up with the huge
amount of development that is ongoing in that
region. "We were not ready for this quick
development and because of that we still have
problems with electricity, roads, water treatment
and other services," Jam said.
"But we are working on meeting all the needs of the
people and of industrial projects by signing
contracts with Iran to supply electricity. We are
also trying to invite international companies to
improve other services," he added.
Kurdistan has flourished in many ways since it came
under US-British protection in 1991 to stop a brutal
crackdown on the Kurds by former Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein's army after the first Gulf War.
Since then, following a popular uprising against
Saddam's government, Iraq's Kurdish region was
granted autonomy.
But during its 15 years of self-rule, Kurdish
authorities have been unable to provide adequate
services to residents, say analysts.
In contrast to the rest of Iraq, hotels, offices,
houses and apartment buildings are going up at a
frenzied pace. Erbil and Sulaimaniyah boast new
airports. Some of the Kurds, who are ethnically
distinct from Iraq's majority Arabs, have been
returning from exile. Even Arabs are moving in, many
of them professionals escaping from the violence and
crime that afflict many parts of the south.
"Despite all that, most of the residents [in
Kurdistan] still depend on wells for their water
needs and private generators for electricity. The
government provides electricity for just two hours a
day," said Ahmed Haj Ali, a spokesman for the
Kurdish Institution for Human Rights Studies, a
Kurdish NGO.
"Still, roads and basic services are poor. Not all
Kurds feel they will get a fair share of the new
wealth from northern Iraq's oil fields and other
businesses. On the outskirts of Erbil, for example,
people live without running water or electricity,"
Ali added.
Ali said that local doctors always complain that
hospitals lack modern medical equipment and
essential medicines.
Roughly 90 percent of the city's roads remain
unpaved.
Corrupt politicians
Like many other people, Mohmmed Serwan Hewa, a
28-year-old taxi driver from Erbil, is tired of
having only two hours of electricity a day, having
no fuel to run his car and no other basic services.
"Kurdish politicians are the only ones who benefit
from this. They are making money and we are
suffering. We are Kurds like them and no-one is
better than any other," said Hewa.
"They [Kurdish politicians] were pretending to fight
for Kurdistan people but they are turning a blind
eye to our suffering
and care only about their interests and how to fill
their pockets with money," he added.
Kurdistan also has a displacement problem.
Mazin Abdullah Salom, a spokesman for the Iraqi Red
Crescent in Baghdad, said there were just over
100,000 displaced people, about 17,000 families,
including Kurdish and Arab, in Kurdistan.
"Some of these displaced families, especially the
Arab families who came from Iraq's other provinces,
are staying in houses or with their relatives. But
others are staying in schools and some in abandoned
buildings or in camps," said Salom, who recently
visited Kurdistan to asses the situation of the
internally displaced people (IDPs).
"Our main obstacle is that the IDPs are scattered in
many places and some of them do not tell us where
they are. This makes it difficult for them to get
many things like blankets, fuel, cooking pots and
heaters," he added.
irinnews org
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