Boats make a comeback on Tigris river

Baghdad: The passenger boats that have returned to Iraq's Tigris River after years of war are shabby and the water polluted, but for many they are a reminder of happier times and a sign of a better future.

Next to a bouncy castle in the shape of a sinking ship, Iraqi families in their best clothes squeezed onto a passenger boat at Baghdad's Abu Nawas park on Monday, the service having started on Friday, the first day of the Eid Al Adha holiday.

The festival coincided with the lowest monthly civilian death toll in Iraq since the 2003 US invasion. Eighty-eight civilians died violent deaths in November, as the once steady drumbeat of marketplace and bus station bombings begins to fade.

"The Iraqi citizen can now breathe, feel there's some progress. I feel like we've gone back to the good old days," said Ahmad Mohsin, on the boat with his wife and two children, as a Saddam Hussain-era patriotic song blared from a speaker.

Boats plying the river were sunk, looted or damaged in the invasion. Years of sectarian slaughter ensued, preventing the resumption of traffic on a waterway which became more known for the bloated and bound corpses dragged from it.

But violence has fallen sharply in the last two years, and Iraq's Transport Ministry has launched a project to bring boats for tourism and general transport back to the river.

Iraq's Shiite Muslim-led authorities are keen to restore a sense of normality before a general election early next year, hoping voters will credit them with ending years of violence.

"Baghdad is clouded with some sadness, but with this project we will breathe life back into it," said Ismat Amer, head of the Transport Ministry's general company for sea transport, which also oversees river traffic.

More development

"This is only the beginning...we will create a river full of docks and boats and floating restaurants," he said.

A boat worker said four large passenger vessels were in operation, but there were plans for more, including one for weddings. Amer said 16 riverside docks had been rehabilitated.

Children among the roughly 40 passengers from Abu Nawas park squealed with delight as the boat cleaved the muddy brown waters of the Tigris, which divides Iraq's capital.

Reeds and islands have emerged in the river as its level and flow have fallen, partly due to dams upstream in Turkey. A boat worker warned that the vessel — apparently refurbished — would sink unless passengers shifted to one end.

Abu Nawas park itself has seen raucous holiday celebrations this Eid, a sight unseen in years, as residents feel safer.

"It's a lot better this year from a security point of view. The economy is better, salaries are better," said restaurant manager Mahmoud Ridah. "The one thing we're worried about is the elections, people killing each other for seats."

Boat passengers gaze at Baghdad landmarks, such as the once plush but now decayed Sheraton and Palestine hotels.

Opposite looms one of Saddam's palaces, used by US military forces and Bush administration appointees as a headquarters before it was handed back to Iraq this year.

For one passenger, the boat ride was a sad reminder of Iraq's current tattered post-war state.

"This is much worse than what we had before...," said Sabah Al Yusiri, a university professor.