BASRA, Iraq — Poverty and a lack of services haunt what could be Iraq's most beautiful port city of Basra.
"The people have made sacrifices and have martyrs. They fought and had injuries. Basra is [Iraq’s] milk supplier. It supplies all of Iraq. Why don’t we have anything? We ask for the Prime Minister to come and look at our situation," said one local.
Al-Qaim was one of the most beautiful streets in Basra, but it has been abandoned for 16 years.
Now with they are neglected, many live in garbage in the streets of al-Hussena.
According to the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, 80 percent of the residents are jobless and 50 percent live below the poverty line.
"I swear to God, none of the authorities could come and live here. I swear to God, these people have the right to come out and protest and make fires with tires on the streets or whatever they do. It’s still not enough. People are tired and fatigued. The youth are jobless," said another local.
The city experienced months of protests over a lack of jobs and services.
Local authorities say they are ignored by the central government in Baghdad.
"The basic services of Basra are not sufficient to meet the people’s demands. We waited for 2019 as it’s been decided to make important and useful projects for people so as to present services here. But I don’t think that will be done this summer," said Walid Getan, the deputy head of the Basra Governorate Council.
More than 3 million bpd of oil is produced there and it sends billions of dollars in revenues to Baghdad every year.
The lack of progress has made people and some authorities to consider steps towards an autonomous region, as is possible through the Iraqi constitution.
Reporting by Hallkawt Aziz
