- Title: IRAQ: Iraq's education sector crippled by mass kidnapping in Baghdad
- Date: 15th November 2006
- Summary: (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 14, 2006) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF AL-MUSTANSIRIYA UNIVERSITY/ STUDENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MUNADHIL JASSIM, UNIVERSITY STUDENT, SAYING: "There is such a declaration. Students heard it after University of Baghdad had halted this year of study. We support this even though if this decision lasts to the end of the year. We are with this decision to keep the souls of people and students due to the threats, especially after the kidnapping of research students. About 150 students have been kidnapped today." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS OUTSIDE UNIVERSITY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MUNA SAEED, UNIVERSITY STUDENT, SAYING: "I will not accept that because the security situation is deteriorating year by another. So students want to finish their study. If we cannot finished our study next there might be no chance for us to work. Students who lived this situation will be keen enough when having a job and will work hard and work on building the country." STUDENTS WALKING NEAR THE AL-MUSTANSIRIYA UNIVERSITY
- Embargoed: 30th November 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: War / Fighting
- Reuters ID: LVAEZG5NXTYZBCH2SWF5RK9D4ZMJ
- Story Text: Gunmen in Iraqi police uniforms rounded up dozens of men at a government building in central Baghdad on Tuesday (November 14), in what may be the biggest mass kidnap seen in a city becoming used to such violence.
It bore the hallmarks of sectarian militias operating under cover of the security forces, although senior officials and witnesses differed over how far minority Sunnis were the target.
The kidnap attack on the department of the Higher Education Ministry was a new blow to Iraq's battered universities, where dozens of professors have been killed since the U.S. invasion.
A witness who works in the building but had stepped out when the gunmen arrived said he returned to see police standing idly by as the kidnappers checked identity cards, apparently sorting Sunnis from Shi'ites and then drove off with Sunni men.
Another eyewitness said the kidnappers appeared to be in official uniforms.
"All of a sudden vehicles drove up here with men wearing uniforms of police commando of the Interior Ministry and others in blue camouflage uniforms, like former uniforms of the vanguards. Some of the vehicles drove deep into the street, others blocked that street, while some of them blocked this street from here. "Go inside, Go inside", they yelled, leaving no one out in street. I went inside and they headed towards the ministry building. When they drove off, I went out and women came out beating their chests," Mohammed, an eyewitness, said.
However senior officials, often keen to play down sectarian tension, said men from both Muslim sects were taken.
Shi'ites were among distraught relatives seeking information on missing family members after the raid in the central Karrada district.
Higher Education Minister Abd Dhiab said staff might now choose to stay away from work, though he later denied that he was calling for a shutdown.
"In fact, we are calling upon you to take a stance and save the higher education. In fact, I'm not ready to see more professors killed so, I have no choice but to halt the education at universities especially in Baghdad in the meantime to see what will happen," Dhiab said.
Even before Tuesday's audacious mass kidnapping in central Baghdad, teaching in Iraq was a deadly profession.
Ever since the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq in April 2003 and the violence that has erupted since, university professors and other academics from various backgrounds have frequently been targets of assassinations.
More than 100 have been killed.
Scientists in Baghdad have been known for many centuries as regional and international pioneers in mathematics and medicine, but the violence and exodus of academics has reduced a once-thriving academic community to a state of fear.
The violence has led many more academics to flee Iraq, leaving Iraq's Education and Higher Education Ministries struggling to provide students with a comprehensive curriculum.
Some students at the al-Mustansiriya University agree with the decision of closing universities while others disagree.
"There is such a declaration. Students heard it after University of Baghdad had halted this year of study. We support this even though if this decision lasts to the end of the year. We are with this decision to keep the souls of people and students due to the threats, especially after the kidnapping of research students. About 150 students have been kidnapped today," Munadhil Jassim a student in Baghdad said.
While Muna Saeed another student said she will not accept this decision.
"I will not accept that because the security situation is deteriorating year by another. So students want to finish their study. If we finished our study the next there might be no chance for us to work. Students who lived this situation will be keen enough when having a job and will work hard and work on building the country," Saeed said.
Unrelenting violence has added to the pressure on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to crack down on militias, some of which are linked to his Shi'ite political allies. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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