Region


HALABJA, Iraq — In the Kurdish city of Halabja in north-eastern Iraq, municipal director Kwestan Faraj recalls the day when being a woman saved her life.

Though equality may be a distant reality for many women in Iraq, in Halabja women have reached top levels of local government.


Mayor, university dean, director of the veterinary department, and health spokesperson are some of the senior posts held by women in the city of around 115,000 inhabitants.

It marks something of a departure for Iraqi Kurdistan, where public affairs have long been dominated by a handful of men.

Tradition and conservative values have meant that women face routine discrimination and are largely confined to the private sphere.

"When you are a woman, climbing the ranks comes with a lot of sacrifices," Faraj, 55, told AFP.

A former deputy head of the municipality for 15 years, Faraj launched her political career many years earlier, when as a student she handed out leaflets against Saddam Hussein's regime, which carried out an infamous chemical attack on the city shortly before the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988.

She recalled one day when an armed man arrived demanding that she sign dubious paperwork. She refused.

"I thought he would pull out his gun and shoot," she said.

"He got up and told me: 'If you weren't a woman, I know what I would have done'."

She said that in her city the drive for gender equality was largely led by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of two historical parties in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Yet, some residents complain that the advances are largely cosmetic and aimed at masking the shortcomings of public services.

'Barriers' 

A junior partner in the Kurdistan regional government in Arbil, the PUK holds the post of speaker in the regional parliament, which it also awarded to a woman, Rewaz Faiq.

The party "believes in equality between men and women in all domains", Faraj said.

"This has allowed us to achieve gender balance in administrative posts in Halabja," said the head of the municipality, who has held the post since 2016.

Halabja prides itself on having had a woman mayor, Adela Khanum, in the first decades of the 20th century. Now it has another, Nuxsha Nasih.

It also has Kurdistan's first female university dean, Mahabad Kamil Abdullah. "The Islamist parties were among the first to congratulate me when I became the president of Halabja University," she said.

But it is by no means representative of the situation of women in Kurdistan as a whole. A 2018 UN report found that women in the workforce represent barely 15 per cent of the women of working age. About three quarters of those work in the public sector.

Cosmetic change 

In Iraq's October 10 parliamentary election, more than 90 women were elected according to preliminary results, exceeding the minimum 83-seat quota established for women in the 329-seat chamber.

Though the Kurdistan region has cultivated an image of relative stability and tolerance, women's rights activists say key issues like forced marriage and female genital mutilation have gone unaddressed.

"It is not enough to have women in high posts. There need to be more women in the lower ranks," said Gulistan Ahmed, who heads the governmental commission for human rights in Halabja.

Many residents are more preoccupied with the failings of public services than with seeking gender equality.

"There have been no notable changes in the city under their mandate, whether at the level of public services or with the launch of new projects," complained Wshyar Abdulkarim, a 45-year-old spice merchant.

Female market trader Mujda Ahmed said having women in top jobs had yet to lead to an improvement in services for women.

"I have worked in the market for six years and not a single person has built public toilets for women," she said.

"I have the impression that they are being used by their parties, which simply want to improve their image on the issue of equality, nothing more."

PORT SUDAN, Sudan — Under the harsh rule of ex-president Omar Al Bashir, Sudan’s eastern tribes felt abandoned and neglected, even taking up arms against him. But two years after his ouster, they remain marginalised and economically deprived.

For millennia, the tribes living between the borders with Egypt and Eritrea have enjoyed a unique culture, with traditional dress, houses and food.

Sudan’s eastern communities largely belong to the ethnic Beja people who inhabit rocky terrains in the states of Gedaref and Kassala.

They have followed a nomadic life as cattle herders and farmers, wandering the lands between the banks of the Nile to the west and the Red Sea coast on the east.

“The Beja have always been averse to urban life,” said Moussa Saeed, a sociology professor at Red Sea University.

Today around 90 per cent still lead a rural existence living in simple huts covered with jute “despite its harshness”, he added.

For more than a decade under Bashir, the eastern communities were part of the armed struggle against his government protesting against economic neglect, marginalisation and disenfranchisement.

In late 2018, they joined nationwide demonstrations against Bashir’s rule that eventually led to his ouster in April 2019.

But in recent weeks, they have been among protesters blockading the country’s main seaport in Port Sudan and a key route leading to Khartoum, severely straining the already struggling economy.

Like others across Sudan, the Beja supported the transition government installed in August 2019 until the administration led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok signed a peace deal with rebel groups more than a year later.

Exposing the rivalries among the Beja tribes, some have opposed that October 2020 deal, which includes a section relating to east Sudan.

It was signed by parties dominated by the Beni Amer tribe, but excluded other groups such as the Al Hadendoa.

One protest leader, Sayed Abouamnah, said the blockade would continue “until the government heeds our demands... nullifying the parts of the Juba peace agreement on the east which was signed with people who do not represent east Sudan”.

Though the region is known for its fertile fields, is rich in gold mines and is a key maritime trade hub, it is also the most impoverished part of Sudan, ranked by the United Nations as among the poorest countries in the world.

Ancient languages 

Another protester said that despite a visit by a government delegation earlier this year their demands had gone nowhere.

“We handed them our demands, which include nullifying the parts of the deal on the east. It has been four months and the government did not take any steps though they promised to get back to us a week after their visit,” said pro test leader Abdallah Abouchar.

The Beja make up roughly around 10 percent of Sudan’s 45 million people, according to the latest official figures published in 2008.

They are split into various tribes that primarily speak two different dialects, Bedawit and Tigre.

Bedawit — spoken by the Al Hadendoa, Al Bosharyeen, Al Amr’ar, Al Arteega and Al Ashraf tribes — is believed to have links to the Meroitic language which thrived during the ancient Kingdom of Kush around 4,000 years ago.

Other tribes like the Beni Amer and Al Habbab, who are believed to have hailed from the Arabian Peninsula, speak Tigre — a Semitic language spoken mostly in northwestern Eritrea.

They share much of their culture and way of life.

The men are also protective of the tribes’ women, especially in rural areas where “they’re not allowed to be seen by strangers”,  said tribal history researcher Mokhtar Hussein.

But over the centuries, that co-existence has been marred by tribal rivalries that have spilled over into sporadic fighting, often over land and resources.

‘Quest for equality’ 

Tensions peaked, particularly between the Al Hadendoa and the Beni Amer tribes, after members of the latter group signed onto a section relating to the east in the October 2020 peace deal.

The latest protests, which broke out on September 17 in Port Sudan, were led by Al Hadendoa tribal leader Al Nazir Tirk, who is demanding the nullification of the deal’s section on east Sudan.

“We are defending a just cause,” he told pan-regional channel Al Hadath last month.

On Friday, Hamdok blamed decades-long “neglect” and “marginalisation” of the east for the latest crisis and has vowed to address it.

But many from the Beja tribes believe the transition has done little to address their grievances.

“We went out against Bashir in a quest for equality,” said Awhag Eissa from Port Sudan.

“This however has yet to be achieved.”

By Layal Abou Rahal
Agence France-Presse

BEIRUT — By challenging Lebanon’s national passion for automobile ownership, and driving growing numbers towards greener or more collective transport, the economic crisis is succeeding where everything else failed.

In the absence of a functioning public transport system, car culture has thrived and many households, even modest ones, boast multiple vehicles.

Since 2019, however, an ever worsening financial crisis has made petrol unaffordable for many and long queues at gas stations unbearable for the rest.

One of the by-products of Lebanon’s historic shortages and currency crisis is the first meaningful dent in decades in the reign of the private automobile.

Tuk-tuks, bicycles, carpooling and affordable buses — which were once out of the question for many — have since become more popular amid changing public attitudes and skyrocketing transport costs, including higher taxi fares.

“Before the crisis, I relied on my family’s car or a taxi, but this has all become unaffordable,” said Grace Issa, a 23-year-old customer service professional whose workplace is around 20 kilometres  from home.

Her only option to get to the office now is a private coach operated by Hadeer, a start-up without which she would not have accepted her new job in the first place.

“I now spend about 30 per cent of my salary on transportation instead of 70 per cent,” she told AFP as she boarded a bus to go back home.

‘Unclean, unsafe’ 

There are more than 2 million cars for 6 million people in Lebanon.

Car imports have fallen by 70 per cent over the past two years and many Lebanese can no longer afford new vehicles with the local currency losing about 90 per cent of its value against the dollar on the black market.

Dwindling foreign currency reserves have forced authorities to scale back subsidies on imports, including fuel, causing prices to skyrocket.

Twenty litres of petrol are now worth around a third of the minimum wage, while nearly 80 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line.

In response to the crisis, Boutros Karam, 26, and three friends launched Hadeer, which provides affordable bus transport along the country’s northern coastal highway.

Unlike the dilapidated public transport system, buses operate along a fixed schedule, are equipped with wi-fi and tracking services and are relatively safer for women who often report harassment on public coaches and vans.

Sixty per cent of Hadeer’s customers are women.

“The public transport problem is an old one but it was compounded recently by the fuel crisis and the fact that many can no longer afford to move around” using taxis or their own cars, Karam said.

The start-up, which has also developed a mobile app that allows customers to book seats in advance, is breaking stereotypes Lebanese have harboured regarding mass transit, Karam added.

Many of our customers “were not accustomed to using collective transportation”, Karam said.

“They used to refuse it because it was seen as unclean... and unsafe.”

‘Way of life’ 

Lebanon has had a railway network since the end of the 19th century but it has been out of service since the start of the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.

Several proposals over the decades to revamp public transport have been shelved. In 2018, the World Bank approved a $295 million package to jumpstart the country’s first modern public transport system.

The Greater Beirut Public Transport Project, however, never took off and the Lebanese government is now looking to use the funds to help support the country’s poorest.

“Discussions are under way with the government of Lebanon regarding the feasibility of restructuring and reprogramming the entire World Bank portfolio which also includes the Greater Beirut Public Transport Project,” World Bank spokesperson Zeina Al Khalil told AFP.

In the coastal city of Batroun, a popular tourist hotspot during the summer, the tuk-tuk has gained traction among visitors and residents alike, according to Toni Jerjes, who manages a service offering the auto rickshaws.

“The crisis has changed the Lebanese people’s transportation habits. Tuk-tuk is a less expensive and faster option,” he said.

In the city of Tripoli further north, Natheer Halawani has relied on a bicycle for nearly two decades to move around.

He has lobbied for a bicycle boom in his car-clogged city for years, but in the end, it was the economic calamity that finally put the wheels in motion, and he says more people are now pedalling through the city’s streets.

The private vehicle “is not just a means of transport, it is also a way of life”, he said.

For the 35-year-old, the crisis provides “a suitable opportunity to rethink” such old transportation models.

RIYADH — A Saudi-led coalition said Wednesday it killed more than 82 Houthi rebels in air strikes near Yemen's strategic city of Marib, during a second week of intense reported bombing.

The Iran-backed Houthis rarely comment on losses, and the numbers could not be independently verified by AFP.

This is the tenth consecutive day that the coalition has announced strikes around Marib, reporting a total of around 1,300 rebel fatalities.

Most of the previously announced strikes were in Abdiya about 100 kilometres from Marib, the internationally recognised government's last bastion in oil-rich northern Yemen.

"Operations targeted 11 military vehicles and killed more than 82 terrorist elements" in the past 24 hours in the districts of Al Jawba and Al Kassara, the coalition fighting in Yemen said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Al Jawba lies about 50 kilometres south of the city and Al-Kassara is about 30 kilometres northwest.

According to a government military official on Wednesday, the Houthis have made "small advances" in Al-Jawba amid clashes with loyalist troops.

The Houthis began a major push to seize Marib in February and have renewed their offensive since September after a lull.

The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, 120 kilometres west of Marib, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year.

Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The seven years of conflict have killed or injured at least 10,000 children, the United Nations children's fund, UNICEF, said on Tuesday after a mission to the country.

BEIRUT — Lebanon raised fuel prices on Wednesday in a de facto end to state subsidies, pushing the cost of filling a vehicle's tank to more than the monthly minimum wage in the poverty-stricken nation.

Subsidies were gradually phased out over the past few months to shore up diminishing foreign currency reserves at the central bank, which could no longer fund fuel imports.

A revised price list published by the energy ministry set the cost of 20 litres of 95-octane petroleum at 302,700 Lebanese pounds, or around $15 at the black market rate.

This is around five times the price of 61,100 pounds set at the end of June, adding to the economic pain in a country where power cuts are common and basic goods including medicine have become scarce.

The revised price "marks a complete lifting of petroleum subsidies," Fadi Abou Chakra of the country's fuel distributors' association told AFP.

"The fuel price hike will cause the cost of services to also increase, especially transportation," he added.

The energy ministry on Wednesday also raised the price of diesel and cooking gas following a drop in the value of the Lebanese pound against the dollar on the black market.

The nose-diving pound was selling for around 20,500 pounds to the greenback, its lowest value in months, money exchangers told AFP.

An energy ministry official said that the "latest petroleum prices were calculated on the basis of a currency exchange rate of 20,000 pounds to the dollar as per a central bank request".

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to comment on the issue.

The price increases have mostly erased massive queues at gas pumps that clogged streets across the country during the summer when importers and gas station owners severely rationed supply.

To fill a medium-sized vehicle’s tank, Lebanese would now have to pay more than the monthly minimum wage of 675,000 pounds, at a time when nearly 80 per cent of the population is estimated to live below the poverty line.

The International Monetary Fund and France are among creditors demanding an audit of the central bank as part of urgent reforms to unlock financial support for Lebanon.

The World Bank has called the country’s economic crisis one of the planet’s worst since the mid-19th century.

Officials said the audit by a New York-based firm resumes on Thursday.

DAMASCUS — A rare bombing of an army bus in Damascus and shelling shortly after of a town in rebel-held northwest Syria killed at least 27 people Wednesday, in the deadliest flare-up in months.

Two bombs planted on an army bus in central Damascus were detonated early in the morning, killing 14 people, in the worst such attack in the capital in four years, state news agency SANA reported.

There was no immediate claim for the bombing, but government shelling shortly after killed 13 people in Idlib province, parts of which are controlled by groups that have claimed such attacks in the past.

"A terrorist bombing using two explosive devices targeted a passing bus" at a key bridge in Damascus, the state news agency said, reporting that at least three people were wounded.

Images released by SANA showed first responders searching the charred carcass of the bus and what it said was a bomb squad defusing a third device in the same area.

SANA quoted a military source as saying the bombs were detonated as the bus passed near the Hafez Al Assad bridge, close to the national museum in the heart of the capital.

"We hadn't seen violence of that type in a long time," a fruit vendor who gave his name as Salman told AFP at the scene.

"We thought we were done with such attacks. I hope this will be the last bombing."

Idlib carnage 

Damascus had been largely spared such violence in recent years, especially since troops and allied militias retook the last significant rebel bastion near the capital in 2018.

The attack is the deadliest in Damascus since a bombing claimed by the Daesh terror group targeted the Justice Palace in March 2017, killing at least 30 people.

Around an hour after Wednesday’s attack, Syrian army shelling struck the rebel-held town of Ariha in Idlib province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rockets struck a busy area as students were heading to school.

Four children were among 13 people killed, the Britain-based war monitor said.

It was the highest civilian toll since a March 2020 truce deal brokered by Turkey and Russia effectively put fighting in Idlib on standby, the observatory said.

“At 8am (0500 GMT) we woke up to the bombardment. The children were terrified and were screaming,” said Bilal Trissi, a father of two who lives nearby.

“They bombed us in our neighbourhood and in the market. There are children who died and people who lost their limbs... We don’t know why, what are we guilty of?”

The UN children’s agency condemned the shelling, calling it a “reminder that the war in Syria has not come to an end”.