IRAQ: Marsh Arabs struggling to revive lifestyle after years of neglect to infamous terrain

Record ID: 792035

  • Title: IRAQ: Marsh Arabs struggling to revive lifestyle after years of neglect to infamous terrain
  • Date: 14th October 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF FISHERMEN SORTING FISH IN THE BACK OF SMALL PICKUP TRUCK CLOSE OF FISH MORE OF FISHERMEN SORTING CATCH (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HASSAN RADHI, FISHERMAN, SAYING: "The number of fish have decreased since the water was dried up. Before up to 20 or 15 cars (full of fish) used to leave this area, but now only two or three cars because of water drainage and a decrease in water level. (Q: Why was the water dried up?) Water is no longer flowing from upstream because the government or Turkey has stopped its flow. Water is the basic element of the marshlands. The life of the people, buffaloes, fish and birds depend on it. When the water decreased, people's work was affected and buffaloes died. Even fish stocks became fewer " VARIOUS OF FISHERMEN SORTING FISH
  • Embargoed: 29th October 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: General,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA3RN0N7PBP3PB4R8ODZJP3FOR0
  • Story Text: The canoe moves gently through the marshlands of southern Iraq as the sun casts its rays over the water and the gentle morning breeze parts reeds and bulrushes sprouting from the wetlands.
    Nature in the marshlands is tranquil and serene, however, life is not that pleasant. It is extremely hard.
    Razzaq Raheem is one of Iraq's Marsh Arabs who have inhabited the lush swamplands at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers since the dawn of civilization, their lifestyle virtually unchanged for 5,000 years - until they incurred Saddam Hussein's wrath and he launched a campaign to eradicate them.
    After a Shi'ite uprising in southern Iraq in 1991, Saddam's government stopped river water flowing into the marshes, turning them into a parched wasteland.
    More than 90 percent of the 5,800 square miles of marshes were dried.
    "The water was nice at that time and life was so simple, now life is hard, extremely hard. Water was nice and there were no dams. Water was nice and it flowed without dams, but when Saddam closed (water) sources, water was obstructed and could not flow naturally because it was restricted by dams," says the 68-year-old Raheem.
    "Now, the water you see here is too saline, those who drink or swim in it fall ill," he adds Raheem says that even livestock was affected when the marshes were dried up.
    "At that time, there were a lot of buffaloes. Everyone owned between 20 to 25, benefiting from their milk by selling it and earn a living for the family. But when the water was drained and became saline, the number of buffaloes decreased and people who used to have 25, now only have one or two, barely enough to provide food for his family," he says.
    The Chibayish marsh village in the southern province of Dhi Qar was abandoned in the 1990s at the height of Saddam's campaign to destroy the Marsh Arabs, but villagers returned five years ago when water started to flow again into the wetlands.
    The lifestyle of the Marsh Arabs centres around agriculture, particularly cultivating rice and dates, weaving reed mats, raising water buffalo, and fishing.
    Fisherman Hassan Radhi says the fish population in the marshes is a fraction of what it was before.
    "The number of fish have decreased since the water was dried up.
    Before up to 20 or 15 cars (full of fish) used to leave this area, but now only two or three cars because of water drainage and a decrease in water level. Water is no longer flowing from upstream because the government or Turkey has stopped its flow. Water is the basic element of the marshlands. The life of the people, buffaloes, fish and birds depend on it. When the water decreased, people's work was affected and buffaloes died. Even fish stocks became fewer," he says.
    But despite the improvements of the last few years, the image of a people dwelling in what some believe to be the site of the biblical Gardens of Eden is still a long way away.
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