Although it is located near the famous historical city of Ur in western Nasiriyah (in Dhi Qar governorate in southern Iraq) and is surrounded by an important security square and its proximity to other security sites, it lives in a difficult situation, as its residents are deprived of basic services, and they do not use the mobile phone for long periods of time. Today while the Internet is very weak, which is why they are deprived of modern technology.

The villagers took advantage of Pope Francesco's visit two weeks ago to the neighboring city of Ur, and demanded that he intervene with Iraqi officials to solve their problems.

Abu Shuwaij village is one of the towns located between Nasiriyah and Ur, which is less than 5 kilometers away, and its residents have lived in it for decades, but after 2003, this village and the nearby villages found themselves facing a new security situation, which is the Nasiriyah Central Prison known as " Al-Hout, which is the largest Iraqi prison, contains more than 6 thousand convicts of terrorism and is subject to strict security protection.

In addition to these two important sites, there is also the headquarters of Sumer Operations Command, which oversees 4 governorates, in addition to the Imam Ali military air base, and along the road leading to the village there are tight security controls, and in light of the security restrictions, the villagers suffer from major service problems.

The Pope of the Vatican met in Ur two weeks ago with representatives of the various religious sects in Iraq (Anatolia)

Starting point

Hussein Ali - a resident of the village - says that for a long time his village has suffered from a great lack of services, and it has been living a bad life since 2013 until today. Previously, the Water Directorate had sought to establish a water project to feed the area, but the project failed, and it was not even known. Now the reasons and every official when reviewing it gives promises to fulfill it.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Ali added that the residents of the village carried out several protests and demonstrations to demand the provision of services, most notably water and electricity, paving the streets, providing medical services, following up on the conditions of the village and solving its problems.

He continues, "The water represents the real problem, and what reaches the village today through a dilapidated tube that passes through the Imam Ali air base, and it is salty and polluted water and there are many worms in it," pointing out that many of the villagers have suffered from cancerous diseases, birth defects and a rash since 17 Years old.

Old barrels used in the village of Abu Al Shuwaij to fill it with drinking water (Al-Jazeera Net)

And the suffering began more, according to Khaled Abd Fahd - another resident of the village - when work began in the central prison of Nasiriyah, which was inaugurated in 2008, when the village began to suffer from the problem of telecommunications service as the prison set up a giant jamming system that affects the area surrounding an area of ​​more than 5 Kilometers.

Fahd explained to Al-Jazeera Net that representatives from the village raised their complaints to the concerned authorities and local officials to solve their problems, but to no avail so far.

He added that with regard to the phone service, the people of the village are often not able to call continuously except in a few hours or go out from the village so that they can use their mobile phones better.

For his part, Abdullah Hamad - a resident of the village - confirmed that the village, which dates back 100 years since its inception, did not suffer from problems and was living a quiet and simple life, but the location of the village near a security square made it suffer more.

He added to Al-Jazeera Net, that water and communication problems spread to two neighboring villages, bringing the number of people suffering to more than 5,000 people, pointing out that there are more than 50 infertility cases in the village, and 70% of young people are unemployed.

One day before the Pope’s visit to the ancient city of Ur at the beginning of this month, the people of the village took advantage of that event and organized a demonstration, placing banners in Arabic and English calling on the Pope to intervene to solve their problems after the government authorities were unable to save them from their deteriorating conditions.

A pause for the people of the village of Abu Shuwaij, before the Pope's visit to the ancient city of Ur near the village (Al-Jazeera Net)

Slow solutions

The director of Dhi Qar water, in the name of Al-Jarallah, confirms that the problem of the water project that reaches the village of Abu Al-Shuwaij lies in the fact that none of the contractors applies to directly implement it despite its announcement 3 times as a service project due to the weak financial return expected from the project, as the contractors see it as an unproject Glory.

The project aims to supply the village of Abu Shuwaij with a capacity of 400 cubic meters of water per hour, as Al-Jarallah explains, with a value that could reach two and a half billion dinars (two million dollars).

He explained that there has been an old project to supply water that has fed the region since 2007, but with the population expansion in the governorate over the past years, the water no longer connects the village properly, and the water pipe leading to it has had major transgressions from the regions and villages that it passes through.

Radioactive activities

Regarding whether there were any radioactive activities in the village, the former Environment Director Asaad Shamkhi explained that the village was examined in 2013 and 2014 by special teams for the environment and civil defense to detect the effects of radiation, as it was in previous times areas of operations and bombing, so there was no activity. Little radioactive.

A medical source in Dhi Qar governorate confirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that the diseases in the region or congenital anomalies are according to the normal rates, and no abnormalities have been recorded outside those rates that require additional health measures for the village, but he added that no tests have been conducted around these areas for many years. .

The source continues his speech that "perhaps there is radioactivity that occurs over time as a result of the waste that was since the era of the previous regime and was removed," noting that cases of various diseases were recorded from the people of those villages, but the cause of the injury of people was not resolved, is it from water or for other reasons.

Residents there hope that their permanent crisis with water and communication service will end and try to find solutions with the jamming system in Al Hout prison that affects a large area of ​​villages near the prison, which makes them cut off from the outside world, as well as improving the Internet service well that suits their needs. .