NASIRIYAH, 18 March (IRIN) - Hassan Bayat is a 71-year-old farmer from the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. He has spent all his life working his land in and raising about 85 sheep on his small
farm to support his family. He does not have any employees, but relies solely on family labour. Recently, people displaced by violence in other areas of the country have started camping on his land. "For the past three months my land has been invaded by families who've set up camp in its most productive areas. I inherited this land from my grandfather who was killed by [former President] Saddam
Hussein's regime during an uprising in the 1990s. For 10 years now I have been cultivating rice and planting date trees and a few vegetables for our own consumption but now I've had to stop because of
those people living here. "My sheep have started to disappear; so far nine have gone. I'm not sure if they're taking them but the important thing is that before these people came we didn't get
incidents like that. I need this income to survive and now without a place to plant and with my sheep being stolen, I'm afraid that soon I'll have to start looking for help, as these people are doing
now. "My family is getting scared, especially the women because unknown men have starting to pass near the house. We don't know where they come from and what they might do. "I asked for help [to
move these people to another place] from the local authorities of Nassiriyah but they said that they can't force displaced people to leave because doing so is against their human rights. I know these
people are suffering but what about my privacy and working rights on my own land? "A couple of weeks ago I found children from the displaced group behind my house taking vegetables. I got really
upset and when I went to look for their parents, I was treated badly and one man even threatened me with a gun. "They invaded my property, drank my water and treated me badly. I'm really getting
desperate because I can't get support or security from anyone. If someone decides to target this group [for sectarian reasons], my family is going to be a victim too, accused of giving them support
– even though we're not. "We're a poor family. Before, I used to make about US $800 a month and I used to invest part of the money in the land. I can't do that anymore. I have a big family of
14 members to support from the income I get from the land and now I really don't know how I will do it. I've already started selling my sheep and chickens to buy food for them. I can get $50 for a
sheep and $4 for a chicken. "We are all illiterate and now even the children who were at school have had to stop going because of the violence. We don't know anything else apart from farming. We
only know how to work the land and with this situation, we might soon be another unemployed family in Iraq. "My wife told me that the displaced children have destroyed her lovely garden, either
picking the flowers and plants or stepping over it while passing by. They are destroying my property, our life, our dreams and we can't do anything to protect ourselves because for everything that now
happens in Iraq, there is just one excuse: the violence." as/ar/ed
