- BASRA (AFP) - Riots in Basra
show Iraqis do not comprehend the coalition's failure to deliver basic
services as cities go for hours without power and black marketeers smuggle
fuel.
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- Many Iraqis cannot fathom the lack of electricity, as
Saddam Hussein had managed to restore electricity three months after the
end of the 1991 Gulf War.
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- But, the coalition retorts, Saddam ran a cruel and inequitable
system that left large swathes of the country, notably the Shiite Muslim
south, with poor and underinvested power facilities. Some areas had no
electricity at all.
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- When power came back to Baghdad in 1991 after the fierce
US-led blitzes of the Gulf War, large parts of Iraq did not get the same
share of electricity as the nation's capital, or even some posh neighborhoods
where Saddam's cronies lived.
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- The US-led coalition argues power distribution is now
far more extensive than under Saddam's 24-year reign. The coalition introduced
last month a nationwide power-sharing programme for Iraq, which excludes
Basra.
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- The southern port city is cut off from the main grid
due to the looting and sabotage that followed the US invasion of Iraq that
kicked off March 20.
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- Basra was due to rejoin the national grid Sunday, the
coalition said two weeks ago, but, the deadline has passed, and instead
the city has been gripped by riots over citywide blackouts and also fuel
shortages.
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- The coalition says Iraq -- which currently has a power
capacity of 3,200 megawatts -- generated 4,000 megawatts before the war
and at its peak could reach 6,000 megawatts.
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- US overseer Paul Bremer has repeatedly said coalition
forces need to generate an additional 2,000 megawatts, which would require
an investment of two billion dollars, but, until now, it is not clear where
the money will come from.
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- And the longer Iraq waits, the greater the risks of violence
similar to that seen this weekend in Basra where British troops were stoned
and fired on by irate citizens, fed-up by long fuel lines and power outages.
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- It is a vicious cycle for the coalition, which relies
on power for the pumping of fuel, and likewise counts on a steady petrol
supply to keep its power plants running.
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- The coalition's best plans are trumped by saboteurs and
looters. Fuel pipelines are blown up and power lines have been ripped down
by a shady combination of guerrilla insurgents and looters.
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- In Basra, the coalition detailed the litany of problems
on the local level.
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- "Petrol requires a higher power level to refine,
but lately there has been inconsistent supply ... due to sabotage of the
main power line from Nasiriya and the failure of old and inefficient back
up generators," it said in a statement.
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- But locals appeared to have little sympathy for the coalition's
multiple problems.
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- British troops were shot at Sunday as they struggled
to control rioters in Basra.
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- Gasoline prices have soared from 150 dinars (10 cents)
for 20 liters (5.3 gallons) to 12,000 dinars (eight dollars) in a region
rife with smuggling of fuel despite a renewed coalition effort to crack
down on the illegal trade.
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- No casualties were reported as the soldiers clashed with
an estimated 800 rioters in the northern sector of Iraq's second city.
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- British spokesman Major Charles Mayo said troops were
starting to make progress against the black market oil trade.
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- Coalition forces intercepted Friday a ship smuggling
1,100 tonnes of fuel out of Iraq and was towing it back to the southern
Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.
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- Mayo said it was the first hauling in of an oil ship
since the coalition defeated Saddam.
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- With hundreds of trucks and ships leaving the area everyday
stocked with oil, it is not easy catching those smuggling, he said.
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