North sets reconstruction example, aid workers say

The experience and resources of Iraq’s north can help reconstruct the rest of the country according to NGOs and authorities in the region. Since 1992 the three Kurdish northern governorates have effectively governed themselves and started to rebuild independancy from the rest of Iraq after years of repression and destruction. Those lessons should now be exploited, according to Robert Pianka, field office manager in the north of Iraq for the US-based NGO Mercy Corps. Based in the northern city of Khanaqin, Pianka said that Iraq’s situation should not be judged by the troubled areas of Baghdad, Tikrit and Fallujah. “Our reality is nobody else’s reality. The ability of the north to help the rest of the country is obvious to anyone that’s here,” he told IRIN in Sulaymaniyah. While Khanaqin is mainly Kurdish it was below the green line that separated the north from the Baghdad-based Iraqi regime but despite this it was being quickly rehabilitated due to its proximity to the north. Being free of Saddam Hussein for more than a decade and relatively peaceful for the last six years had meant the opportunity for many reconstruction projects in the north, the majority under the auspices of the UN with Oil-for-Food Programme money. Although the north is still plagued with some problems such as shelter for IDPs, these efforts had greatly benefited the economy of the region. “It’s just a great, secure, prosperous place that we can procure things for the rest of the country,” Pianka said. He explained that it was crazy to import such things as tents from overseas when they could be made in the north.“This is not rocket science and it’s obvious if you’re sitting in the north. If you are sitting in Samara or Tikrit it’s not so obvious.” Pianka said the north had about seven years’ head start on the rest of the country and this could be seen in things such as businesses and billboards. “Things that happen when people have time to get down to work and you can project that into the south.” He believed the largest problem facing the country was poverty, brought on by Saddam Hussein and international embargos, and said more than half the population could be considered poor or very poor. “This is the reality of the new Iraq. It has all these tremendous resources and skilled people that are able to make it a second world economy in short order but it has inherited this poverty. But I believe in five to 10 years it could work its way out of this. I have a great deal of confidence in the Iraqi people being able to do this if they can get down to work.” Meanwhile, Soran Saed, the programme manager of rural rehabilitation for NGO Norwegian People’s Aid, told IRIN in Sulaymaniyah that the experience and skills it had gained in the north since 1995 were now being taken south to the rest of Iraq. Its teams were beginning to work in Khanaqin, Baghdad and Qut in the south but were doing this gradually rather than leaping in. Soran said there was a vast difference between the north and south of Iraq not just in needs, but also in attitudes. “The understanding of the people of how to be open, frank and trusting has been killed by Saddam’s repression. The personality of the Iraqi people has been destroyed in the last 30 years.” NPA was working with students, women and others in the south to help them play a part in the newly democratic society and its decision-making. By having the Iraqi people truly participating in all facets of society, with free media and freedom of organisation, “we will have a fertilised field and that will help what we do in the south,” Saed said, adding that the Iraqi state was not strong yet because it lacked the skills and experience in governing. However, he stressed it was not a case of abandoning the north, which continued to have very real needs. “What is important is to continue supporting this area and by doing this, transfer knowledge and experience to other areas. The north can be used as a resource but it has to be done carefully.” The international community could best help in this process by looking at longer term development as well as initial emergency aid, Soran explained. “We don’t need eggs. We need the hens that lay the eggs.” According to Jamal Mirza Aziz, the Deputy Minister of Relations and Cooperation for the Kurdistan Regional Government in Sulaymaniyah, the north of Iraq had been terribly damaged by Saddam Hussein’s regime until 1991. “Everything was affected and we suffered a lot,” he told IRIN. It had taken a long time to reconstruct everything from fields to factories and most of this had to be done by themselves because of the embargos on Iraq. After the 1991 uprising when millions of people fled their homes, he said there were hardly any animals to be seen on the land. “But now it’s quite different. They are even exported to some places like Iran and Turkey.” Jamal said the north could use these experiences to help the rest of Iraq. “Kurdistan can be a resource for the reconstruction not only for reconstructing buildings and enterprises but even in the reconstruction of democracy. We have been living in a democracy and been free for the last 12 years,” he maintained.