IRAQ/SWEDEN: Sweden to host international conference on Iraq's development and the role of the United Nations in the war-torn country

Record ID: 477282

  • Title: IRAQ/SWEDEN: Sweden to host international conference on Iraq's development and the role of the United Nations in the war-torn country
  • Date: 27th May 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) FDHILIYA DISTRICT, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 7, 2008) (REUTERS) WOMAN CARRYING EMPTY BARRELS OF WATER ON THEIR HEAD
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAEE0DCZ1D53N8VOI4GL1F1RM0T
  • Story Text: Baghdad's crumbling roads, burst sewage pipes, water shortages and lack of electricity are casualties of war that get little attention amid the daily litany of gunfights, bombs and bloodletting in Iraq.
    The lack of services is most evident in the summer when most of the Iraqi capital suffers water shortages.
    People are forced to draw dirty and contaminated water from broken pipes, exposing children and adults to dangerous and health-sapping waterborne diseases.
    For the relatively well-off, scarce drinking water means forking out precious cash on expensive bottled water.
    Iraq's power grid is only producing half the amount of electricity required despite international efforts to rebuild it. Many of the country's power lines were destroyed during the war. The situation was worsened by the looting that followed, as most of the tools and vehicles needed for repairing the lines were damaged or stolen.
    Iraq's services -- its water, sanitation and electricity -- have been in a dismal state since the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. Years of war, sabotage and neglect have crippled infrastructure and hobbled reconstruction efforts.
    Corruption is endemic and has swallowed up billions of dollars of aid money before it reaches its intended projects.
    A high-powered conference on Iraq, staged by the International Compact with Iraq (ICI), will be held in Stockholm later this week and high on its agenda is the issue of shortages of basic services.
    The majority of Iraqis coming to Sweden have chosen to settle in Sodertalje, a town of 83,000 inhabitants, just 30 kilometres south of the capital Stockholm.
    Sodertalje used to be best known for housing the headquarters of truck maker Scania and being the birthplace of tennis ace Bjorn Borg. Nowadays it's sometimes jokingly referred to as Little Baghdad.
    Last year 1,266 refugees who were granted asylum in Sweden chose to settle in Sodertalje - the majority from Iraq. If the trend continues, the local council expects the number to increase to 2,000 this year.
    In Sodertalje, the multi-ethnic Iraqi football club Irakona has Iraqi Kurds, Christians and Moslems in the various teams and its members hope the conference will bring about some improvements in their homeland.
    The junior team's coach, Wail Faraj, 24, came to Sweden in 2001 from Baghdad where he was studying and has high hopes for the conference.
    "I hope that the future in Iraq will be good, it doesn't look like that now, but really I hope that the future will be fine," he said His views were echoed by Ahmed al Falwjim, 38, who used to play in the Iraqi national team and came to Sweden in 1999.
    Swedish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Frank Belfrage, said his country would be part of the joint European Union "message"
    concerning Iraq's development. He added that the Swedish delegation would also raise the issue of refugees, not only the ones coming to Sweden but also in Iraq's neighbouring countries.
    "This is a very important issue about the displaced persons inside Iraq, all the Iraqi refugees which fled during the various incidents to the neighbouring countries, to Syria and to Jordan - some of them which went much further - some of them to Sweden," he said.
    ICI was launched in Sharm el-Sheikh in May 2007, following two preparatory conferences in New York. It is an international partnership running over five years with the aim of supporting the political process in Iraq and improving the conditions for development.
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