DIYALA, July 2 (AKnews) – About 40 percent of the people in the eastern province of Diyala live below the line of poverty, the provincial council has said.
Deputy Chairman of the Diyala Provincial Council Sadiq al-Husseini said Monday that “tours and field visits by the council members across the province by indicate that many areas are deprived from government support despite the damage suffered by those areas due to violence and the collapse of the infrastructure”
Al-Husseini called on the authorities in Baghdad to give a bigger role to public-private sector as well as humanitarian organizations that work on economic development in the province in order to address the poverty issue.
“The employment of human resources by the government and the relevant authorities, that’s partly due to poor planning and inactivity of the public-private sector, is completely absent” he said.
Diyala is one of the unstable provinces of Iraq where insurgents frequently carry out attacks. The province was largely under the sway of the al-Qaeda group in the aftermath of the 2003 war in Iraq until the US forces along the Iraqi security forces regained control of the province in a series of military operations.
By Mahmoud Talab
RY/AKnews