IRAQ: 6TH DAY OF MANIFESTATIONS IN BASSORA, PRIME MINISTER ON SITE

Iraqis again demonstrated in Basra on Friday, the sixth day of a social protest that prompted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to visit the southern city of the country, which is riddled with corruption and years of violence.

Protests against unemployment and dilapidated utilities, mainly electricity, were exacerbated by the death of a protester on Sunday, the first day of demonstrations in the capital of the province of the same name, rich in oil.

Abadi arrived in the morning in Basra (about 500 km south of Baghdad) from Brussels, where he participated in a meeting on the international struggle against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which was defeated last year. Iraq after three years of deadly and destructive fighting.

He immediately met with military commanders, local political leaders and oil officials, according to his office, who said in a statement that measures would be taken to respond to the discontent.

A source close to Abadi told AFP that the prime minister had had a meeting with tribal leaders to whom he said: “We will spend the necessary funds for Basra, for services and reconstruction.”

Among the first measures, the head of government ordered that the security guards of the Ministry of Oil in Basra enjoy long-term contracts and social security.

In the city center, hundreds of people demonstrated Friday in front of the seat of the provincial council, framed by an important security device, found an AFP correspondent.

Waving Iraqi flags, they chanted slogans hostile to the authorities: “Thieves plunder us” or “Daech (Arabic acronym for IS) is in the green zone”, the sector of Baghdad where are the institutions of the country .

The day before, protesters burned tires in several parts of Basra and blocked roads.

– Are we in Darfur? –

“People are hungry and live without water or electricity, are we in Darfur or what?” Exclaimed Abdallah Khaled, 29, referring to a poor Sudanese region.

“Our demands are simple: more jobs, water desalination structures and the construction of power plants,” adds the employee, who does not believe in the promises of the leaders.

“They are deceiving people, they have not done anything, even the roads are from the previous regime,” he says, referring to the era of Saddam Hussein, who was deposed in 2003.

On the first day of protests on Sunday, a protester was shot dead by police, witnesses said, fueling tensions.

Since then, the demonstrations are daily.

In a statement on Thursday, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said that demonstrators had tried to enter refineries on an oil field and set fire to some buildings at the entrance to the facility.

– “Neither, nor acceptable” –

Oil resources represent 89% of Iraq’s budget and 99% of its exports, but they provide only 1% of jobs to local workers, foreign oil companies employing mainly foreigners.

“There are jobs but they are taken by non-Iraqis, we must expel them,” said AFP Moussa al-Asadi, 25, Friday in the crowd of protesters.

“I manifest to be given the rights that I steal,” says this cook, a university graduate in Sciences.

The unemployment rate is officially 10.8% in Iraq, where under-24s account for 60% of the population.

The highest Shiite authority in Iraq announced Friday its support for protesters, while calling on them to avoid disorder.

“It is neither fair nor acceptable for this oil-rich province to be one of the most miserable in Iraq,” said Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Kerbalai, representative of Ayatollah Ali Sistani, during his preaching. in Kerbala (center).

“Officials in the central and local governments must take seriously the demands of the citizens (…),” he added.

In 2015, a protest movement led mainly by Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr was launched against corruption and dilapidated public services, before losing momentum.

Moqtada Sadr came first in the May 12 legislative elections with his unprecedented alliance with the communists. But the results have not been validated yet.