Oil-rich Amara left high and dry

In the village of Al Kahla near the south eastern city of Amara, homes are made of reeds and mud, children don’t have access to a proper education system, health care is virtually non existent, electricity is in short supply and there’s no indoor plumbing.

But this could have been one of the wealthiest places in Iraq.


The oil fields in the region produce 15 to 20 per cent of the country’s oil, Jamil Shahit, an Amara oil ministry official, says.

“Amara is one of the biggest oil rich provinces in Iraq. But we are not using the entire production capacity in Amara,” he says.

“And that’s because we don’t have enough equipment or experienced staff.”

So much oil reserves, yet so much poverty. Many people in Amara can not make ends meet and they tell us they wonder why their lives have to be so hard.

Al-Jazeera