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Traders in Old Mosul rebuild their ruined market
MOSUL, Iraq, Dec 23, 2017 (BSS/AFP) – Fed up with waiting for assistance
from the Iraqi authorities to materialise, traders at the ravaged Bab al-
Saray market in Mosul’s Old City are rebuilding their shattered businesses
themselves.
After months of silence, the sound of construction work and returning
commerce is finally filling the historic district devastated by the months-
long battle to force out the Islamic State group.
“I was the first to open my shop some two months back after cleaning it up
with the help of other traders,” ironmonger Zanoun Younes Rajab, 44, told
AFP.
The father of five and neighbouring stallholders had to each fork out
25,000 dinars ($20, 18 euros) just to clear the rubble blocking their street.
In the neighbouring alleys — where grocers and carpenters are looking to
start plying their trades again — it is the same story.
– Still dangerous –
The market, part of which dates back over 1,300 years to the time of the
Ummayyad caliphate, bears the scars of the fierce fighting that saw IS
jihadists finally kicked out of Iraq’s second city in July.
Shopfronts are blasted, ceilings have caved in, wooden beams are broken,
stocks have been plundered.
Under the rubble lie rotting corpses of jihadists killed in street-to-
street clashes or by air strikes from a US-led coalition.
There is not much left intact in what was once one of Mosul’s busiest
neighbourhoods.
Gateways leading into the market have been pulverised and accessing some
areas remains dangerous because of the threat of unexploded munitions or IS
booby traps, despite assurances by security officials.
But this has not put off some traders from trying to bring the district
back to life.
Builders are busy fixing roofs or mending the shattered pavements.
“We did not wait for the city authorities because they are very slow and
it would surely take months longer,” said spice seller Abu Ahmed.
– ‘No reconstruction plan’ –
Mayor Zouhair al-Araji insists that local officials are doing all they can
“with the little we have at our disposal”.
Most equipment was stolen or destroyed, electricity and water are still
out in parts of town and many roads remain impassable.
He instead points the finger of blame further up the chain to the
authorities in Baghdad.
“Up until now we have only been relying on ourselves as the central
government still has no reconstruction plan for Mosul,” he said.
That means that it is down to the market traders to try to return some of
the missing life.
Abu Nabil, 65, could not wait any longer as time slipped by after the
official announcement of Mosul’s liberation.
His carpet stall is the oldest in the market and has been passed down from
father to son for generations in his family.
“I cannot imagine my life without my work and my shop, so today I am
cleaning it up and starting to bring back everything I saved before the
fighting,” he said.
“Our shop is our soul, we cannot live without it in peace.”
BSS/AFP/MRI/0909 hrs