New clashes in Iraq over electricity cuts

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Iraqi police fired water cannon Monday to disperse stone-throwing protesters in the southern city of Nassiriya, demonstrating over crippling power cuts that are stoking tensions following a March election.

Nassiriya provincial council spokesman Nasif al-Hashemi said 14 policemen were wounded in the clashes, which followed similar scenes in the southern oil hub of Basra Saturday.

Two people died in Basra, where police opened fire as several thousand protesters demanded the resignation of Electricity Minister Karim Waheed.

. . .

Slogans at the Basra protest suggested a political undercurrent, but beyond political machinations there is widespread anger in Iraq over electricity supplies, which are still limited to just a few hours per day seven years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The south, where Basra and Nassiriya are located, are rich in oil and key to Iraq's bid to become a top oil producer on the back of multi-billion-dollar deals signed by the outgoing government with companies like BP and Royal Dutch Shell.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65K3G920100621

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........Iraq before the USA got it's incompetent hands in there.