SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A protester was killed in clashes with security forces in Iraq’s Maysan on Friday night, according to Iraqi media.
Dozens of people took to the streets in Maysan and Basra on Friday night in protest of power outage in the country as temperatures exceeded 50 degrees Celsius in some parts of Iraq.
Hundreds of Iraqis also protested in Baghdad on Friday over worsening power and water cuts.
Power went out completely across most of the country’s provinces before dawn, in some of the worst shortages this year. Some main grid electricity had returned to Baghdad by the afternoon.
In Maysan, clashes broke out between the protesters and Iraqi forces, Iraqi media reported.
One protester was killed and nine others were wounded.
Power from Iraq’s main grid suffers year-round from hours-long cuts each day, but the shortages worsen during the hot summer months when temperatures regularly reach 50 degrees and households rely on air conditioning.
Four southern provinces have been without electricity since Tuesday, including Basra – home to Iraq’s main port.
Iraqis blame a government which relies on energy imports from Iran and which they say has failed to develop Iraq’s own grid to serve its population.
Iraq’s electricity minister resigned this week under pressure over the power crisis.
Reduced power supplies from Iran this month and a series of attacks on power lines by militants have compounded the electricity crisis.
Iraq’s grid was generating just over 4,000 megawatts, according to Ministry of Electricity data on Friday morning — significantly less than the 12,000-17,000 megawatts the grid generates on average. By midday, production had climbed to 8,000 MW.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said last week that the hours of power supply had reduced due to “repeated and intentional targeting of electrical towers in a number of provinces”.
The electricity ministry said the blackouts, which started in the south before spreading to the rest of the country, were caused by unexplained attacks on power lines.
“Someone is trying to destabilize the country and sow chaos,” ministry spokesman Ahmad Moussa said on television, without giving further details.
On Friday, Kadhimi formed a crisis cell to take immediate measures to address shortages, according to a statement from his office.
Iraq is capable of generating up to 20,000 MW, but the actual capacity — owing to technical losses and other issues — averages between 12,000-17,000 MW during the summer months.
