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Baghdad: Despite the recent ceasefire agreement signed between the Sadr trend and the Shiite ruling coalition, sporadic fighting is still going on.
"As soon as the sun sets and it gets dark, we live in fear," Saadi Abbas, a Sadr City resident, told Gulf News.
"I do not know why the Americans love to launch raids at nights, especially after midnight. It seems that Americans are so cruel and tyrannous yet when the sun rises they turn into humble children and religious men who give presents such as clothes, sports equipment and sometimes financial aid to young Iraqis and teenagers," he added.
According to reports issued by several Iraqi ministries including the Labour and Social Affairs ministry, unemployed young men in Sadr City make up more than 70 per cent of its estimated three million citizens. Ministry of Education statistics show more than 80 per cent of school age children do not go to school.
"The Americans gave us an entire sports kit for our soccer team that represents our sector; they also helped prepare some open spaces into a football pitch. Some of the Mahdi Army leaders came and threatened us and demanded we return the gifts to the Americans," Wissam Shubar, aged 17, told Gulf News.
Young women in Sadr City, most of whom wear the hijab, have also had their share of gifts offered by female American soldiers.
Rawdha Hussain, a university student, told Gulf News: "My friends and I who live in Sadr City received financial aid from the humanitarian assistance centre affiliated to the US Army; we have received some clothes and some books that are useful for our academic study."
Sources close to the Iraqi government said that Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki ordered service ministries to form a field committee to study living conditions in Sadr City and draw up a plan to employ large numbers of unemployed young men.
"The American way to win Iraqi hearts and the Iraqi government's approach toward developing the city is aimed at undermining the Mahdi Army's ability to recruit young people ... because most recruitment operations depend on exploiting the poor living conditions and lack of education among the Sadr City population," Sami Jaber Saloum, an Iraqi political analyst, told Gulf News.
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