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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
IRAQ: Reconstruction moving slowly in southern holy city
NAJAF, 26 Oct 2004 (IRIN) - Six weeks after major fighting in the southern holy city of Najaf, which left hundreds dead and a large number of buildings destroyed, civilians say that reconstruction is moving very slowly.
So far very little rebuilding has occurred in some of the badly damaged zones and residents say they are worried and confused about the future of their restaurants, shops, hotels and homes.
"The Najaf authorities said that they were going to pay us for the damage to our buildings but we haven't seen any money yet," shopkeeper Ali Hussein, who had his two shops around the holy shrine totally destroyed, told IRIN.
But Adnan Al-Zurfy, governor of the city, told IRIN that progress was being made, noting that American and Iraqi rebuilding officials from the Ministry of Reconstruction had recently compensated people who were hurt in the fighting or who had lost family members.
US planes bombed the city in August in an attempt to rout insurgents loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtadar al-Sadr. The fighting between the military and the insurgents went on for weeks and along with heavy loss of life, left the old historic part of the city virtually destroyed.
The governor said that the main responsibility for reconstruction of the city, which lies 160 km south of Baghdad, falls to the Iraqi government. But working in partnership with the Najaf governorate and the Coalition forces is bringing positive results, he added, although he acknowledged that there was still much work to be done.
"It's not an easy process. The people of Najaf should understand that the repairs will take time and that we started with the essential works; as soon as possible we are going to compensate all of those who have lost their property," he said.
One of the key problems remaining is the main water and sewage treatment plants, which need to be repaired quickly. In the old city sewage and dirty water can be seen on the streets where children play, putting them at risk of disease. Pilgrims have to pick their way across rubbish to reach the famous mosque.
In an effort to address this, Al-Zurfy said that three new refuse lorries would arrive soon in the city to remove rubbish from the holy Grand Imam Ali Shrine area. "We have a tremendous need for sanitation equipment, especially in the heavily visited old city," he added.
At the same time, the hospital remains short of essential medicines. Doctor Mohammed Abed al-Kadhem, deputy director of Hakim Hospital in Najaf, told IRIN that public health was very poor and that the government needed to respond quickly to address this before circumstances got worse.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) said that since the end of the last major outbreak of violence they haven't been able to give support to those areas due to fighting in the Sunni triangle, which consumed most of their resources. But they plan to start to look at the medical health situation in the Najaf area starting at the beginning of next month.
The US military says it will compensate civilians for damage and loss of life. "We will pay for damage, death, injury caused by the US [military]," Capt Carrie Batson, a spokeswoman for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, told IRIN. She said that the pace of payments for injuries, death and damage had picked up and that more than US $1 million had been given out.
According to Batson, restoration work had started in the city and they expected that by the end of this year the city would be almost fully repaired, adding that water, sanitation and electricity were still their major priorities. She said they were working together with the Ministry of Public Works and the governorate to address those problems.
Majid Sahib Iabreen, the governor's adviser, has announced that more than $7 million in Iraqi government-provided funding will be directed towards Najaf reconstruction. "This funding will help pay for 21 projects, engineers are outlining each project's scope and will take estimates so we can get started quickly," he said.
However, many doubt that all the damage done can ever be fully repaired, especially in the old city. "The area around the shrine may never be rebuilt as it was before and not much rebuilding or reconstruction has been done," Majid Jebreen, chief of the supervisory committee for reconstruction in Najaf and the local coordinator for the Project and Contracting Office, told IRIN.
Jebreen added that the Najaf governorate has new building projects to make more space for the pilgrims who come to visit every year. But he said that this might anger civilians as it would take away many shops and hotels around the mosque.
Some residents such as Nadeem Hassan are hopeful that the government can help restore the city. "We expect that the government can solve this problem in our city soon and bring back the shine of our history," he told IRIN.
But many others are critical of the way building projects are set to change their city. The say that the plans are not in keeping with the historic importance of Najaf.
"First the Americans and the new government destroyed our city and now they want to rebuild it as they like, it's wrong, they can not change a blessed place, the history of Muslims," Sheik Muhammad Ali, a religious representative in Najaf, told IRIN.
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004
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