Basically this doesn’t help anyone, al-Hamadani says.
The provincial government is well aware that local people need compensation for the damages incurred, a member of the provincial council, Ibtisam Mohammed Darb, told NIQASH. “Although we don’t have the funds to start compensating everyone, we have been able to record damages, assess problems and then categorize them, in order to request the needed money,” Darb explains.
The fact that the provincial council got the Real Estate Bank to agree to the loans is just a first step, she insists. “We are still working to establish a mechanism that guarantees that everyone who has been impacted can benefit from these loans.”
Unfortunately, her words are not much comfort to Um Ahmad, a local woman whose son died in fighting in Anbar.
At the moment Um Ahmad – in English, the mother of Ahmad – is living in the rubble of what was once her home. Only a single room remains habitable – it still has a ceiling. “Most of the affected people here are poor. And we need help because we are victims of this conflict, not part of those who destroyed everything.”
The 50-year-old widow says she would rather live in the ruins of her house, than receive a loan she cannot pay back. “If there was a loan I could afford I would go to the bank directly and get it,” she insists. “But I am not interested in this government initiative, which just has the smell of election propaganda.”
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