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| Iraq | |
| Iraq cuts officials' privileges amid power crisis | |
| 2010-06-26 | |
| BAGHDAD - Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani on Friday revoked electricity privileges enjoyed by government officials as he took temporary control of the power portfolio amid public fury over rationing. Shahristani, a key ally of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said his measures would redirect much-needed supplies to a national grid that currently provides ordinary citizens with power for only one hour in every five, or less. “It is impossible for anyone who takes responsibility (for electricity) for a few days to end the suffering of the Iraqi people,' he told reporters at a news conference in Baghdad. “But I have taken these measures to reduce the problems facing those who have a limited amount of electricity,' a situation that sparked a riot in the southern city of Basra on June 19 that saw two men shot dead by police. Shahristani said he had ordered a stop to special supplies given to Iraqi officials living in the International Green Zone and elsewhere in the capital. The country's daily power generation averages 8,000 megawatts, while demand in temperatures that have hit 54 degrees Celsius (130 degrees Fahrenheit) is typically more than 14,000 megawatts, forcing the use of unpopular rationing. Only those with access to their own generators and fuel have been able to refrigerate foodstuffs or air-condition their homes around the clock. Shahristani also said production hikes ordered at several power stations, including ones at Beiji, 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Baghdad, and Nasiriyah, a southern city, would increase production by 250 megawatts. Maliki on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Karim Wahid, who as electricity minister had been the main target of protests over limited power supplies as temperatures soared across the country. The prime minister warned on Tuesday that two more years of shortages lay ahead as there was no quick fix to the problem, which worsened dramatically in the wake of the US-led invasion in 2003.
At the bloodiest protest in the main southern city of Basra, last Saturday police opened fire on demonstrators hurling stones at provincial government offices, killing two protesters. In a sermon at the main weekly prayers in the shrine city of Najaf on Friday, a leading Shiite cleric condemned the police action. “The right to demonstrate is enshrined in the constitution and nobody can override it,' said Sadr al-Din al-Qubbanchi, who is considered close to the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, a Shiite religious bloc which sits in an uncomfortable alliance with Maliki's faction. “We reject the use of live fire (against protesters). Nobody can accept it,' he told the faithful. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 Ooooops wrong blog. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-06-26 15:52 |
| #5 Ooops, wrong year. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-06-26 10:32 |
| #4 Wrong country Iraq is not an Iranian province? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-06-26 10:32 |
| #3 Wrong country. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-06-26 09:28 |
| #2 Gotta feed the centrifuges? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-06-26 05:02 |
| #1 Not much sympathy from me. Maybe if they decided to create a rational plan to sell power to people who pay for what they use... then they would have enough generation capacity to cover critical uses. Socialized (free) power is a stupid idea. Just like socialized free medicine - you get what you pay for. |
| Posted by: LeighG 2010-06-26 01:58 |