Excerpts: Iran's disasterous drought. Egypt foils blockade bust.Jordan
explores oil from shale.September 11, 2008

+++JORDAN TIMES 11 Sept.'08:"Iran battles searing drought across half the
country"By Aresu Eqbali
Agence France-Presse
FULL TEXT:EGHLID, Iran - According to local legend, Cyrus the Great, founder
of the Persian Empire, abhorred the telling of lies, which he believed to be
his people's worst enemy.
It is said that next in line was drought. Little has changed for the
modern-day descendants of those who lived 2,500 years ago in what is now
Iran.
The historical grave of Cyrus lies not far from the town of Eghlid in the
southern Iranian province of Fars. This agricultural city has 11 rivers -
but 10 of them have now run dry.
On the road between Isfahan and Shiraz, Eghlid's altitude of 2,230 metres
near the Zagros mountains means it should not be short of water. But it is.
Mohammad Gholi Ashiri has small oblong concrete ponds in which he used to
breed up to 20 tonnes of trout a year. But his business in one of the
forsaken villages in the area has literally dried up.
"We don't have even one litre of water, even for drinking," Ashiri said. Now
the 46-year-old ruined father of four also has an insistent bank to deal
with because he has been late in repaying his business loans.
"We don't know what to do. There's no way out, and no way to stay," he
lamented. "First lying, and then drought. That's what Cyrus the Great warned
his people of. In that order!" Fars, where wheat is the prime product, is
one of Iran's 14 provinces - out of a total of 30 - officially labelled a
drought-stricken region.
Its four million strong population is accustomed to weather changes
including dry spells, but never have they seen anything like this.
Average rainfall is down 68 per cent in Fars this year. The situation is so
bad that Ayatollah Mohiedin Haeri Shirzai, Friday prayers leader in Shiraz
the provincial capital, urged everyone to pray for rain on a certain day in
June.
The people of Eghlid have good reason to urge divine intervention - up to 85
per cent of the town's 100,000 population relies on farming and livestock to
survive.
According to the local state agriculture organisation, the drought had
inflicted losses of more than $2 billion by July.
"The problem is that in autumn there will be no water for next year," said
Mansour Rashidi, a provincial ministry of agriculture expert.
"The underground water table will not be replenished. We will be hit with
the lowest amount of water ever because we have used up all the reserves."
'We are dying of hunger'
Tehran has allocated nearly $5 billion to fight the drought nationally. Even
arch-foe the United States, often referred to in Iran as the Great Satan, is
helping out.
To cover demand, Iran needs to import 5 million tonnes of wheat to make up
for this year's drought-induced shortfall.
According to a recent US Department of Agriculture report, Tehran has bought
1.18 million tonnes of American hard wheat, commonly used in breads and
pasta, since the 2008-2009 crop season began in June.
"On each hectare we produce 8 to 9 tonnes of wheat a year. But this year we
have nothing at all," 47-year-old Faraj Bazgosha said, standing under the
burning sun on his now barren 7-hectare (17-acre) farm.
Usually farmers can acquire the supplies and equipment they need early in
the year on credit because traders know they will be compensated when
harvest time comes around.
But no future crop to reap means no current credit.
"I used to get what I wanted from local shops, but now that I have no income
they don't give me anything," Bazgosha said.
The lack of pasture means livestock also suffers. Nomads in Fars who move
1.2 million animals annually from winter to summer quarters have been badly
hit.
"I now have 58 sheep and geese. But I lost some. They don't become
fattened," said Avaz Peykar, 40, now settled in Eghlid's Aspas plain.
The father of six sees no future for the nomad lifestyle.
"A nomad's herd is his asset. But this drought means there will be no more
nomads. In the end we'll have to settle down somewhere. We are dying of
hunger." Shahrokh Shakeri, another agriculture ministry expert, said that in
addition to having to sell livestock when animals are too young, owners are
also being forced to slaughter them to ensure more grazing for the rest of
the flock.
Fruit production had also been hit by the fierce drought of 2008, he said.
The driest in a decade, it has been dubbed "crisis year" by local
agriculture officials.
In addition to grains, Eghlid is also normally a great producer of apples,
almonds, beans, grapes, walnuts, and stone fruits, with a total of 16,000
hectares (39,500 acres) allocated to harvesting the land.
"We've had a little rain and some snow. But around 2,000 hectares do not
have enough water and orchards have been dying," said Ali Agha Mirtalebi,
deputy head of the Eghlid agricultural office.
There are not enough water tankers in this town of dried-up rivers to supply
nomads, let alone water the plants.
Eghlid agricultural officials hope that a recent state allocation of $4.7
billion to battle the drought will alleviate matters.
But it is not only agriculture that has been hit by the unprecedented
drought. A 60 per cent decrease in the amount of water stored behind dams
has meant daily power cuts across Iran, because hydroelectric plants also
lack water.

+++JORDAN TIMES 11 Sept.'08:"Egypt stops convoy heading to Gaza", Reuters
FULL TEXT:Egyptian police stopped a convoy of buses heading towards Gaza on
Wednesday (10 Sept.)in what the organisers called an attempt to break the
blockade of the Palestinian territory, police and eyewitnesses said. The
convoy of four buses, the first of several convoys which planned to travel
to Gaza on Wednesday(10 Sept.), could not travel beyond a toll station near
the Suez Canal town of Ismailia, they said. "Before Ismailia the security
forces closed the road and took away the driving licences of the drivers,"
said Badr Mohammad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the
opposition groups taking part in the endeavour.

+++JORDAN TIMES 11 Sept.'08:"National Resource Authority (NRA) signs oil
shale
deals with Brazilian, French companies"
FULL TEXT:AMMAN (Petra) - The Natural Resources Authority (NRA) on
Wednesday(10 Sept.) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a
Brazilian and a French company to produce oil through oil shale surface
mining. Under the MoU, the two companies will initially carry out a
year-long prospecting programme before submitting feasibility studies. If
the studies show that the project could yield oil shale in commercial
quantities, the project will need another three years to become viable,
according to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Khaldoun Qteishat
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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA