Iraq’s Basra under pressure from rural exodus due to desertification
By France24
26 November 2022 |
3:25 pm
Repeated droughts experienced by Iraq for the past three years are accentuating the rural exodus underway throughout the country. No longer able to work on their land due to rapid desertification, farmers are moving to the cities. In oil-rich Basra, the country's economic powerhouse, these farmers end up in slums, often going without basic services.
In this article
Related
Related
26 Nov 2022
Repeated droughts experienced by Iraq for the past three years are accentuating the rural exodus underway throughout the country. No longer able to work on their land due to rapid desertification, farmers are moving to the cities. In oil-rich Basra, the country's economic powerhouse, these farmers end up in slums, often going without basic services.
24 Dec 2022
The self-declared "Islamic State" said it was responsible for the blast that killed at least nine police officers near Kirkuk. The militia is still active in parts of Iraq, despite Baghdad declaring victory over it.
8 Jan
Five years after the end of the war against the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq, the fight against jihadist holdouts continues in some areas. In Mosul, which lived for more than three years under the yoke of the terrorists, residents are determined to reconquer their cultural and historical heritage.
20 Jan
Iraqi authorities said at least one person was killed in a stampede at a stadium in Basra ahead of the final of the Gulf Cup football competition. Hosts Iran reached the final, prompting increased interest.
5 Feb
The German Bundestag recognized the massacre of Yazidis by jihadists from the so-called Islamic State in Iraq as "genocide."
5 Feb
As relations between Iran and the United States continue to deteriorate, FRANCE 24 spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Paris. He warned that "any tension between the US and Iran, any tension between the regional countries, will reflect on Iraq negatively".
10 Feb
Award-winning French journalist Samuel Forey joins us for Perspective to discuss his newly-released book, which retraces six years of reporting from the Middle East. He tells us more about why he decided to become a war reporter and also reacts to the devastating twin earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
5 Mar
Iraq's government is going after what it calls "decadent content" on social media. Users of TikTok, Instagram and other platforms who are found to breach "morals and traditions" can now be jailed. The campaign was announced in January and so far, a dozen people have been arrested. Our correspondent Marie-Charlotte Roupie reports.
18 Mar
Fallujah is one of the cities that has paid the highest price for the US-led invasion of Iraq two decades ago. A stronghold of support for former dictator Saddam Hussein, it quickly became the scene of brutal guerrilla warfare. The instability created by the conflict produced long-lasting effects. In particular, it laid the foundations for jihadism, giving birth to al Qaeda in Iraq, which later evolved into the Islamic State group.
25 Mar
On March 20, 2003, a US-led coalition invaded Iraq. Years of conflict and insecurity followed, with wide-ranging consequences to this day. In mid-April 2003, as American troops advanced on Baghdad amid the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, the Baghdad Museum was looted and tens of thousands of pieces disappeared. Twenty years later, many of these priceless artefacts are still missing and antiquity trafficking remains a serious problem in Iraq. Our correspondent reports.
27 Mar
Mohamed ElBaradei was director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1997 until 2009. In an interview with FRANCE 24, he reflected on the US-led invasion of Iraq 20 years ago this week, which he opposed. "If I now look in hindsight, it was not really about weapons of mass destruction.
29 Mar
At the height of the Iraq war an estimated 10, 000 African mercenaries participated but their contributions are seldom talked about. 20 years on, The Flipside explores the untold stories of Africa’s Iraq war veterans.
Latest
2 hours ago
The wife of Gabon's ousted president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, has been charged with “money laundering” and other offences, the public prosecutor said on Friday, a month after a coup toppled her husband.
2 hours ago
The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh goes back centuries. Here is an overview of the history of the disputed region between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
2 hours ago
Yury Garavsky has confessed to being involved in the kidnapping of political opponents of Belarus' leader in 1999. They were later murdered. He now is on trial in Switzerland, and the verdict is expected on Thursday.
2 hours ago
On September 10, Antarctic sea ice was spread over 6.55 million square miles—an annual maximum that's 676,000 square miles below the average from 1981 to 2010 and 398,000 square miles below the previous record low from 1986. The records date back to 1979.
4 hours ago
Africa is often portrayed in Western films in a cliche or exotic way. Young African filmmakers want to change this by telling stories from an African point of view. Germany's largest festival for African productions gives this fresh perspective a stage.