juillet_FR_269_2007:Bull. FR.mars 252.qxd - Institut kurde de Paris

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Revue te de ae Presse-Press tresse- Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Bastn Prensa-Bt Ôzeti è ^ Iraq's middle class escapes abroad By Sabrina Tavernise and f inds poverty AMMAN: After her husband was kilied, Amira sold a génération of her. famil^s belongings, packed up her children, and left their large house with its gardener and maid. Now, a year later, she is making méat fritters to eam money in this sandcolored capital, unable to afford glasses for her son and, in the quiet moments, choking on the bittemess of loss. The war has scattered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis throughout the Middle East, but those who came to this capital of highways and fast food restaurants tended to be the most afflu¬ ent. Most lacked residency status and were not allowed to work, but as former bank managers, social club directors and business owners, they thought their money would last. It has not. Rents are high, schools cost money, and under-the-table jobs pay little. A survey of 100 Iraqi familles this spring found that 64 percent were surviving by selling offtheir assets. Now, as a new school year begins, many Iraqis hère say they can no loiçer afford some of life's most basic require¬ ments éducation for their children and hospital visits for their familles. Teeth are puUed instead offilled. Shampoo is no longer on the grocery list. "My savings are nnished," said Amira, who is 50. "My kids won't be in school this year." It is a painful reality for an impor¬ tant part of Iraq's population. The upper middle classes were Iraq's educated, secular center. They refused to take sides as the violence got worse. And their suffering is not only personaL The poorer they grow and the longer they stay away, the more crippled Iraq becomes, making it difficult for any American effort to put the country back together again. "The binding section of the popula¬ tion does not exist anymore," said Ayad Allawi, a former prime minister of Iraq, who now spends most of his time in Jordan. "The middle class has left Iraq." Iraqis streamed into Jordan and Syr¬ ia in 2005 and 2006, with the professional class picking Jordan. The signs on the second floor of the private Al Essra Hospital in central Amman contain only Iraqi doctors' names. The Jordanians hâve been relatively lenient, registering doctors in their médical un¬ ions and allowing those without resid¬ ency permits, the vast majority of Iraqis hère, to live unmolested, virtually without arrests or déportations. But by early this year Iraqis were weighing so heavily on this small coun¬ try diat the Jordanian authorities began to reduce the numbers they accepted. Many who came thought Jordan would be a temiporary stop on the way Shawn Baïdwin'for the New. Yoric Times Zeinab Majid, center^ an Iraqi refugee, shopped for fruit in Amman with her recently arrived Baghdad neighbor, Ansam Obaid, and her danghter, Yusor Muhammad. to asylum in Australia or Sweden, or a brief vacation from Baghdad's inferno. But as the months wore on, it became clear that most countries were closed to Iraqis, the war was only getting worse, and familles were left stranded, buming through their savings. The Australian authorities twice re¬ jected Hassan Jabr, a Spanish teacher who left his élégant home and garden in Baghdad after his 12-year-old son was kidnapped and kilied last year. Now, with his savings gone, badly dented before he left by a $10,000 ransom he paid to try to get his son back, he is living off his family's food ration cards that his mother sells in Baghdad. "We saw reality in Amman and we were shocked," he said, sitting in his spare one-room apartment in eastern Amman. "We planned for two months." Iraqis hère hâve never been formally counted. A survey by a Norwegian group, Fafo, which has not yet been made public, is expected to report that there are less than half of the 750,000 Iraqis commonly estimated to be in Jordan. But that still is 10 percent of Amman's two million population, and aid agencies hâve stepped up activities. One of the biggest concerns is éduca¬ tion, and aid agencies are trying to address it. The Jordanian government, un¬ der pressure from the United States, has agreed to let Iraqi children without res¬ idency attend public schools, a right not extended to any other foreigners. Until now, Iraqis hâve either stayed out ofschool or attended private school, a moderate cost that has become untenable as savings disappear. But the schools are already crowded and the government has not yet prepared for the change, arguing it should receive funding to help ease a humanitarian crisis caused by someone else's policy. United Nations agencies are asking for extra funds to expand, at first by adding new shifts to existing schools. It is not clear yet how it will work. Save the Children, a humanitarian group helping to organize the effort, says it has referred 4,000 young Iraqis to schools in récent months, but that the jreferrals do not guarantee acceptance. l Amira went to the public school in her neighborhood, but was told that there was no room for her children. Private school cost her about $5,000 last year, about a third of her savings. As the middle class becomes poor, new patterns form. Zeinab Majid's okra stew no longer has méat. She buys her vegetables just before sunset, when the priées are the lowest. A stranger offered her the use of a washing machine, a gesture that nearly brought her to tears. She came to Amman in September, after her husband, a painter, received two threats and the studio he used was bombed. They sold their car and pos¬ sessions. Now her husband, a quiet, owlish man in small round glasses, spends his days jabbing paint onto small . canvases, while their boys, 7 and 4, watch cartoons on an old télévision set. "There are days when l'm penniless completely," she said, serving juice to visitors. A Catholic relief organization, Caritas, helped pay for first grade for her son last year. The pain of the war closes people, and récent arrivais tend to live isolated lives, dividing the community into small, sad pockets. Amira moves mechanically through her days like a stunned survivor of a shipwreck, directing her four children, and shaping méat fritters with tired hands. Gone are her children's élite schools. Gone is their social club with its pool. Even their history was left behind. Tears corne easily when she remembers the belongings she sold, the photo al¬ bums she did not take. Her husband, a Sunni, was kilied five days after men in police uniforms took him from his shop in March. His face was bruised and his 15
. Parlement ' Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Bastn Ôzeti body was broken. It was 22 years to the day since they first met. "They were after the happiness," she said, her face wet with tears. "They wanted to kill the happiness." The most isolated Iraqis are those who worked for the United States. The link is a liability among Iraqis and Jordanians and makes it hard to confide past sadness to make new friends. The United States promised to in¬ crease the numbers of Iraqis it takes, an announcement that drew crowds to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office hère in February. The UN agency has referred 9,100 Iraqis to the United States in 2007, including 180 who worked for the United States, but so far only 120 hâve arrived, according to the State Department. Running out of money is frightening, and some choose to move to Syria, where things are cheaper, or, in some cases, back to Baghdad and the war. Aseel Qaradaghi, a 25-year-old soft¬ ware engineer, was pregnant when she brought her small daughter hère last summer after receiving Islamic threats on her cellphone. Her husband, a trans¬ later for a South African security firm, stayed in Baghdad to eam money for the family. But when he did not call on her . birthday, she knew something was wrong, and only after pressing his friends on a crackling phone line did she learn that he had been kidnapped. Now, eight months later, she is earning a small wage at a nursery. Without his salary it is not enough, and she has applied for refugee status. If she is re¬ jected, she will hâve to return to Bagh¬ dad. She does not know her husband's fate, but worries it will be the same as her brother's, kilied for working as a translater for the U.S. military. "I cannot allow myself to think about him," she said, bouncing her baby boy on her lap. "The moment I start to allow feelings, my life will stop. l'm afraid of the moment that I collapse." Amira said, "My daughter was second in her class," her words coming hard and fast. "I traveled ail over the world, I want to tell the Americans what has happened to us." Total s'allie à Chevron pour explorer le pétrole irakien Conclu en 2006, mais dévoilé le 8 août, ce projet pourrait prendre forme après la ratification, par le Parlement irakien, de la loi sur les hydrocarbures LONDRES CORRESPONDANT Après un intermède de dix ans, ayant trouvé ime cavalière. Total entre dans la danse du pétrole irakien. Et de belle manière, en s'associant avec Che¬ vron pour explorer et développer l'un des plus grands champs pétrolifères du pays, celui de Majnoim, dans le Sud-Est, près de la frontière iranienne. Ce projet, conclu en 2006 mais dévoilé le 8 août, pourrait prendre forme après la ratification, par le iraMen, de la loi stu- les hydro¬ carbures, en principe à l'automne, et à condition que la sécurité s'améliore. Chevron et Total se sont refusés à confirmer ou à démentir l'information en raison de son caractère sensible. L'octroi de contrats d'exporation-production à des compagnies étrangères est controver¬ sé dans l'ex-Mésopotamie, comme l'attes¬ te la difficile ratification de la législation énergétique. Sous-exploité, le sous-sol irakien, qui contient les deuxième ou troi¬ sième réserves de pétrole au monde, selon le mode de calcul, est l'objet de tou¬ tes les convoitises en cette ère de raréfac¬ tion de l'offre d'hydrocarbiu-es. « L'Irak est le dernier Eldorado pétro¬ lier. Les majors veulent leur part du gâteau, mais les conditions d'exploitation n'ontpas encore été bien définies », souli¬ gne l'ancien haut fonctionnaire irakien Mohamed-Ali Zainy du Center for Global Energy Studies, un centre d'études éner¬ gétiques londonien. Les réserves de Majnoun, qui produisait 50 000 barils par jour avant la chute de Saddam Hussein, sont estimées à 12 miUiards de barils. Le duo collabore aussi sur le champ de Nahr ben Omar, dans le Sud, dont les réserves sont estimées à 6 milliards de barils. « Le mariage Idéal » Total et Chevron devront toutefois se contenter d'un contrat de service moins intéressant que les contrats de partage de production {production sharing agree¬ ment ou PSA) en vigueur avant la chute du dictateur. « Les compagnies auraient bien voulu un PSA à long terme qui leurpermet d'ins¬ crire leurs réserves au bilan, créant de la valeur aux actionnaires. Mais le ministè¬ re irakien des pétroles ne veut pas être accusé d,e brader les richesses itationales au profit des étrangers. Ce type d'accord est la norme au Proche-Orient », souli¬ gne Mohammed Ali-Zainy. En vertu d'un tel contrat, la compagnie pétroliè¬ re joue un rôle de sous-traitant, factu¬ rant les opérations de développement des puits et d'extraction. Douce musique pourtant aux oreilles de Christophe de Margerie, le directeur général de Total ! Les complémentarités entre les deux groupes sur ce dossier sont incontestables. En 1998, Total avait conclu, sans le signer, un accord PSA lelHonde Samedi 11 août 2007 avec le régime de Saddam Hussein pour le développement de Majnoun. La socié¬ té française avait hérité d'Elf, présent en Irak depuis 1991, de précieuses données géologiques. Depuis 2003, la compagnie française s'est repliée dans les Emirats arabes imis, d'où elle participe à la forma¬ tion de techniciens irakiens. Depuis l'invasion, Chevron, proche de l'administration Bush, a pu tisser en tou¬ te tranquillité des liens avec les techno¬ crates du pétrole irakien. « C'est le maria¬ ge idéal combinant l'expérience de Total d'avant 2003 et celle de Chevron d'après 2003 », souligne Ruba Husari, experte de la revue VEnergy Intelligence Group. Par ailleurs, Chevron et la Compagnie française des pétroles, devenue Total, étaient actionnaires de l'Irak Petroleimi Company entre 1928 et 1972, date de sa nationaUsation. De surcroît, en chiffre d'affaires, les deux groupes sont au qua¬ trième rang mondial, ex aequo. Aujourd'hui, une dizaine de petites compagnies étrangères sont présentes en Irak, essentiellement dans l'explora¬ tion, dont Genel, Dana Gas, Gulfsands Petroleum, ONGC-Reliance et Addax Petroleum. En attendant que la séciuité soit garantie, les grands - BP, Shell, Total ou ExxonMobil - préfèrent atten¬ dre tout en plaçant leurs pions. En 2007, la production irakienne s'est élevée en moyenne à 2 millions de barils/jour et les exportations à 1,6 mil¬ lion. Les coûts de production de ce pétro¬ le léger, à faible teneur en soufre, s'élè¬ vent à seulement 2 dollars le baril. MARC ROCHE 16
Page 1 and 2: KURDE INSTITUT DE PARIS Bulletin de
Page 3 and 4: Sommaire : LE KURDISTAN IRAKIEN Á
Page 5 and 6: n° 269 • août 2007 Bulletin de
Page 13 and 14: m." ^ ''2 Revue de Presse-Press Rev
Page 15 and 16: Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhev
Page 23 and 24: ' Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berh
Page 25: Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhev
Page 33 and 34: , the s Revue de Presse-Press Revie
Page 47 and 48: : re : honni Revue de Presse-Press
Page 57 and 58: : dicfature Revue de Presse-Press R
Page 61 and 62: ^ ; whose Revue de Presse-Press Rev
Page 65 and 66: JS o il S il ^ Revue de Presse-Pres
Page 73 and 74: . toujours Revue de Presse-Press Re
Page 77 and 78:
Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhev
show all

juillet_FR_269_2007:Bull. FR.mars 252.qxd - Institut kurde de Paris

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?