US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT2138

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 002138 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/W 
STATE PLEASE REPEAT TO IO COLLECTIVE 
STATE FOR PRM/ANE, EUR/SE, NEA/NGA, IO AND SA/PAB 
NSC FOR EABRAMS, SMCCORMICK, STAHIR-KHELI, JDWORKEN 
USAID FOR USAID/A, DCHA/AA, DCHA/RMT, DCHA/FFP 
USAID FOR DCHA/OTI, DCHA/DG, ANE/AA 
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA:WGARVELINK, BMCCONNELL, KFARNSWORTH 
USAID FOR ANE/AA:WCHAMBERLIN 
ROME FOR FODAG 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH 
DOHA FOR MSHIRLEY 
ANKARA FOR AMB WRPEARSON, ECON AJSIROTIC AND DART 
AMMAN FOR USAID AND DART 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PREF, IZ, WFP 
SUBJECT:  OLD CASELOAD IDPS IN SOUTHERN IRAQ 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  DART Field Team South met on 6 May with two extended 
families and their neighbors in a poor section of Basrah to 
assess their water and food needs.  Most inhabitants of the 
area are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), some of who 
have been squatting on other people's land since the Iran- 
Iraq war in 1980.  The families said that since the recent 
hostilities began six weeks ago, their greatest concerns are 
a lack of security, scarcity of cooking fuel, dwindling 
incomes, and the threat of being forcibly evicted from homes 
they have been living in for many years.  End Summary. 
 
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BACKGROUND 
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2.  The DART, assisted by two women who work as monitors for 
the U.N. World Food Program, met for two hours with two 
families, of ten members each, in the Abo Al Khsib 
neighborhood in south-central Basrah.  The group discussed 
their concerns about food, security, and other issues.  Both 
families, as well as some of their neighbors, were displaced 
from the Faw peninsula.  One family was forced to leave in 
the Iran-Iraq war in 1980.  The other family fled their home 
in the first Gulf war in 1990. 
 
3.  The Abo Al Khsib neighborhood is in a poor section of 
town in south-central Basrah, where the two families and 
their neighbors live in an adjoining series of one-story, 
mud-brick rooms, built around small courtyards.  The rooms 
have earthen floors, and those used as sleeping quarters are 
covered by a carpet remnant and woven straw mats. 
 
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CURRENT SITUATION 
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4.  Most family members and their neighbors said security 
was their primary concern.  One woman said the `bad 
elements' in the area, recognized by everyone in the 
neighborhood before the war, have now enriched themselves by 
looting guns and food commodities.  She said the criminals 
often roam the area, settling disputes by shooting people. 
 
5.  Another woman complained about the lack of propane gas 
for cooking fuel.  She said she has spent an average of 
7,000 Iraqi dinars every three to four days to buy a 
wagonload of palm wood to use as fuel.  Before the war, she 
says four canisters of propane gas for an entire month cost 
1,200 Iraqi Dinars.  Now, she has empty gas canisters but 
cannot find fuel in the market. 
 
6.  The water situation in the neighborhood has improved 
with non-potable water running in pipelines, which before 
the war were empty.  However, obtaining drinking water is 
still a challenge; a U.N. Children's Fund water tanker was 
delivering drinking water during the visit by the DART, but 
it was only the third such trip to the area since the start 
of the war. 
 
7.  When asked whether their families had enough food, the 
DART was told that the rations under the Oil for Food 
Program were never enough to feed their families.  They said 
all the commodities ran out before the end of the month, and 
that the milk ration ran out quickly.  They felt that a 
double package of rations would be sufficient to meet their 
needs for one month.  They received double rations in 
February to cover the months of April and May, and the last 
distribution of a double ration, distributed in mid-March, 
one week before the war began, was referred to as the 
June/July distribution.  One family had only part of the 
wheat flour and rice rations left. 
 
8.  The families say food prices in the Basrah market have 
fluctuated almost daily since the war.  Some items, such as 
vegetable oil and sugar, commodities largely looted from a 
local warehouse and which now glut the market, are less 
expensive.  They cited as examples the prices of several 
staple items: pre-war one kilogram (kg) of tea cost 2,000 
dinars; the same amount now costs 3,000 dinars.  Before the 
war, one kg of powdered milk cost 500 dinars; it is now 
5,000 dinars.  One kg of rice was 250 dinars before the war; 
it is now 350 dinars.  One kg of sugar, which was 600 dinars 
before the war, is now 250 dinars.  One kg of vegetable oil 
was 600 dinars before the war; it now costs between 300 and 
500 dinars. 
 
9.  One of the extended families, with four sons and seven 
daughters, relies on the income of one male head of 
household.  Before the war, he had a job as a construction 
worker, earning between 2,000 and 2,250 Iraqi dinars per day 
but now earns only between 1,000 and 1,500 dinars per day 
mowing grass for animal feed. 
 
10.  The other family has four sons and three daughters. 
All of the sons are educated, one having a Master's degree, 
but none can find a full-time job.  A daughter, who is a 
teacher, had to stop working just before the war to give 
birth to a child. 
 
11.  The two families had a small reserve of livestock: one 
sheep, that was being fattened for slaughter, and four 
goats. 
 
12.  Another concern expressed by the two families and their 
neighbors was eviction from their homes.  They said 
government officials came to the area last year, 
confiscating all their furniture and demanding that they 
vacate the premises.  Now, they fear, some other official or 
landowner will come and demand the same.  They asked the 
DART if it could help, and give them guidance on what 
recourse they have if such an action were to take place. 
13.  The DART has notified the International Organization 
for Migration (IOM), which has been given the mandate to 
care for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq, about 
the existence of the IDPs in the neighborhood.  IOM says it 
will follow up on the areas visited by the DART. 
 
JONES