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From Our Own Correspondent: Iraq and Jordan

05/06/2013

Iraq and Jordan

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Iraq and Jordan

How the conservation of the Mesopotamian marshes has given new hope to Iraq's Marsh Arabs

How the conservation of the Mesopotamian marshes has given new hope to Iraq's Marsh Arabs and the hopes and fears of Iraqis fleeing sectarian violence to neighbouring Jordan.

Richard Porter is in southern Iraq, in the Mesopotamian marshes, which were once almost drained to destruction by Saddam's regime. Now both the ecosystem and the local culture of the Marsh Arabs are beginning to flourish again. But in Iraqi cities it is a different story, with over 500 deaths from sectarian and terror attacks during the month of May. Many people are voting with their feet and fleeing over the border into Jordan, which is currently preoccupied with another refugee problem - the tide of Syrians trying to escape violence there. Matthew Woodcraft spends an unusual backgammon evening in Amman with Iraqis from both sides of the sectarian divide and hears of their hopes and fears.

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