By H.Varulkar*
 To view this Inquiry and Analysis in HTML, visit: "What is the daily schedule of the Syrian citizen during power outages? At
night, naturally, he spends his evening by candlelight or by the light of a
flashlight, and if neither are available, there's nothing wrong with moonlight
either. In this way, our ridiculous authorities aspire to restore the
productivity to our troubled souls. As we know, the light of the moon revives
our souls and enriches our imagination, and it has the power to transform us
into silver-tongued lovers or poets. The afternoon is the worst time for a
serious power outage – especially in the middle of a burning hot summer. The
hours between one and four or five transform one from a keen-sensed poet into a
crazed murderer... You curse your mother and your father who brought you into
Syria."(1) 
- Ahmad Mawloud Al-Tayyar, a resident of the city of Al-Raqqa,
describes life in Syria under electricity outages
Since early summer 2007, Syria has been suffering from a severe electricity
crisis, the worst in many years. Recurring power outages last four to 10 hours a
day, and this has obviously affected the lives of Syria's citizens, as well as
causing serious damage to the Syrian economy.(2) 
At first, the Syrian government assured the public that the crisis was temporary
– that it stemmed from increased demand due to the summer heat and was expected
to resolve itself within a few weeks.(3) Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Naji
Al-'Utri even gave Electricity Minister Ahmad Khaled Al-'Ali a two-week
ultimatum to solve the crisis.(4) But when the problem persisted, with the weeks
turning into months, harsh criticism of the government, and particularly of the
prime minister and electricity minister, began to appear in the Syrian media.
The Syrian government daily newspapers called on the country's decision makers
to act swiftly to correct the flaws in the country's public services, including
the electricity crisis. More critical articles appeared in the Syrian dailies
and news websites, and also on the opposition sites, which attributed the crisis
to public corruption and to poor planning, and called for the privatizing
Syria's electricity services. 
Protests against the situation reached their height in early August, after Prime
Minister Al-'Utri blamed the crisis on political reasons and on international
pressures that had led, inter alia, to refusal by the world's four largest
companies dealing with electricity to work in Syria. In this context, Al-'Utri
pointed at former French president Jacques Chirac as the one who had pressured a
French company to withdraw from a Syrian tender for erecting a power station in
Syria.(5)
The criticism over the electricity crisis also spread to popular protest, when,
on August 2, 2007, a hacker penetrated the Electricity Ministry's website and
left the following notice on the homepage: "I thank all the Electricity Ministry
employees, and particularly the [electricity] minister, who so far has offered
no solution and has abandoned the country and the people who gave him his job. I
also express my gratitude for the tremendous effort of all those in charge of
maintenance in the Electricity Ministry – an effort that demonstrates their
inability to bear the responsibility and to hold onto their lofty positions. How
long will we remain backward? How long?"( 6)
The following are excerpts from articles and reports published in the Syrian
papers and news websites in response to the electricity crisis, and particularly
in response to statements by Syrian Prime Minister Al-'Utri:
Government Papers: The Regime Must Hold In-Depth Discussions on Issues
Concerning Residents' Lives 
Sana Ya'qoub, columnist for the Syrian government daily Teshreen, wrote: "In
light of the pathetic picture before the eyes of the residents, from the water
and electricity crises, to the narrow streets full of dust and potholes, to the
animals and cattle in the neighborhoods and the bugs, rats, and sewers polluting
everything around them – the people say to the makers and executors of the
decisions: 'When will you speak the truth and keep your promises? Are we to
remain forever at your mercy?!"(7) 
Isma'il Jaradat, columnist for the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra, also wrote
about the crisis in public services: "[There are] many issues that members of
the legislative authority must raise with the executive authority. It is to be
hoped that [the matter] will not end this way, and that the discussions will not
take place infrequently. We are interested in an in-depth discussion that will
deal with all the issues concerning the lives and livelihoods of the residents –
and not in discussions aimed at grabbing media prestige."(8)
Al-Watan Daily: The Electricity Crisis is the Result of Corruption and Poor
Planning 
In a July 30, 2007 editorial, the Syrian daily Al-Watan called for privatization
of Syria's electricity: "What is the use of talking about achievements? What is
the use of all members of the government stressing the 'improvement' in the
citizen's [standard of] living? What is the use of threats, promises, and
ultimatums [for solving the crisis] when they are only slogans? The Syrian
citizen raises these questions every day, every hour, in an attempt to obtain an
explanation of what is going on. Water comes from Allah, but electricity is the
government's responsibility... What are the investor, the tourist, and the
immigrant told? Are they told that the planning is poor, and that the cause of
the crisis is the corruption and neglect? Or are we to reiterate the words of
the government and of the electricity minister, that the crisis is temporary and
it will be overcome within a short time? 
"And who will bear the material losses? Will the citizen be allowed to sue the
Electricity Ministry for damages? We have no answer to any of these questions,
and it is best that the government move over and permit the private sector to
supply electricity, instead of scattering promises, threats and ultimatums. At
least with the private sector we know our rights and our obligations in settling
accounts and suing those in charge. It is a great scandal – a scandal to the
detriment of the government, which is obligated to improve its citizens'
standard of living."(9) 
Syrian columnist Haytham Yahya Muhammad wrote in a similar vein in the daily
Al-Watan: "In light of the disorder and the chaotic way in which the power comes
on and off, and in light of the negative and dangerous ramifications of this
situation, some say – and I among them – that if the 'moral system' of those in
charge of electricity in our country had not crashed, the power grid would not
have crashed so suddenly either!" 
Syrian Opposition Forces: The Problems are the Product of the Authorities'
Policy
In an editorial titled "The Syrians Without Water, Electricity and Security –
That Is, Without a State!" the website of the Damascus Declaration, an umbrella
organization of the Syrian opposition forces,(10) wrote: "The problems of the
Syrians are the product of the authorities' policy, and the essence [of this
policy] is suppressing any opinion different [from the regime's] and abolishing
political freedoms – primarily freedom of expression and freedom of assembly...
This policy consistently prevents opportunity for national dialogue, thereby
making it impossible for public opinion to form that will expose the essence of
the problems and their [various] aspects. Thus, there is no systematic planning
or handling [of the problems]; the level of responsibility drops, and the demand
to provide an accounting weakens – if not completely disappears – [as you
descend down] the ranks of authority. [Ultimately], it is directed only at the
lowest levels that lack all protection.
"The reality in Syria has long required that the government change its policy
from the root, and that it be subjected to supervision and held accountable [for
its policies], to the maximal degree. The continuation of the current situation,
and the worsening of the problems with which the Syrians are dealing, are simply
unacceptable."(11) 
"Syria News" Editor: Al-'Utri's Statement – Evading Responsibility
Nidhal Ma'louf, editor-in-chief of the Syria News website, which is affiliated
with Syrian regime circles, criticized Prime Minister Al-'Utri's attribution of
the power crisis to political reasons and international pressures: "...To the
best of my knowledge, the establishment discourse has recently been marketing
[the idea that] 'America's policy of isolation has failed to accomplish its
goals regarding Syria' – [yet suddenly] the prime minister comes and tells us
that we have entered a new era – an era of 'distress' caused by the
international sanctions against Syria. 
"I do not know whether [the policy of] blaming 'international pressures' for the
government's failure to meet the basic needs of the Syrian citizen is wise
during this sensitive time, when Syria has begun to reap the fruits of its
resistance to the American-Israeli plots in the region. We are handing them the
big prize on a silver platter, telling them, 'Behold, you have succeeded, and we
have begun to live in the era of darkness as a result of the policy of isolation
that you have employed against us.'  
"I do not think that it is possible that Siemens, or any of the companies
scattered throughout the world, would reject offers to build power stations in
Syria, since we have already in recent years signed contracts with U.S. and
European companies in [various] areas, [including] communications and oil... I
think – and this [too] is the message being marketed by the government, morning
and night – that we have friends in the 'Eastern' [regions], which reach to
China, who [could have] helped us acquire power stations, if [only] we had
planned so as to deal with this crisis in a timely fashion and had taken into
account all the social, political, and environmental circumstances.
"These government statements [by Al-'Utri] have had a twofold negative impact...
on the Syrian public: Some interpreted them as 'evading responsibility,' [i.e.]
as an attempt to blame the government's obvious failure on 'international
pressures,' while others saw it as the 'harbinger' of an era in which the
international pressures and the U.S.'s isolation policy have begun to make
significant breakthroughs – to the point where they have caused Syria to live in
darkness. I think that both these interpretations are nothing but adding fuel to
the fire of the crisis."(12)
Former MP: The Regime is Insulting the Citizens' Intelligence 
Former Syrian MP Muhammad Mamoun, now a political dissident who is active
outside Syria, responded to Al-'Utri's statements by telling the Italian news
agency AKI: "How long will the regime insult the intelligence and feelings of
the citizens while ignoring the facts and the reality for which it is fully
responsible[?]... How can the regime seek to blame others for the policy it
employed – a policy that has brought Syria ruin and economic and political
destruction[?]... Are the prime minister's statements a kind of false
accusation, a distortion of the facts, an [attempt to find] a new hook on which
the regime's mistakes and faults can be hung, or [an attempt to] spread hatred
and animosity between the peoples?... 
"Syria's electricity [crisis] is one of the problems from which the Syrian
people suffers, and it stems from poor management of the country, from defective
planning, and from the corruption that afflicts all the country's services...
Where was this problem two months ago [during the presidential referendum], when
[electric] decorations filled [the streets] and electricity was used with
abandon throughout the country for two months, so that [the president would be
reelected and] the regime's robbery of the people could continue?"(13)
Syrian Oppositionist to Regime Heads: Stop Stealing Water, Electricity, Liberty,
and Freedom of Expression
In an article on the Akhbar Al-Sharq website, Syrian oppositionist Dr. 'Ali
Hussein wondered how a regime capable of undermining the stability of the Middle
East could not solve its electricity crisis: "Mr. Al-'Utri, why don't you tell
the Syrian people the truth? One month ago, you lied when you blamed the power
outages on the electricity minister, and today you are blaming the collapse of
Syria's electricity network on Chirac. Why don't you tell the Syrian people that
it is your idiotic policy, and President [Bashar Al-Assad], that are the reasons
for the problem? If the problem is power stations, and if there were tensions in
your relations with Jacques Chirac because of the shameful crime of the
assassination of [former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq] Al-Hariri, then where
are your strategic relations with the rest of the countries of the world? Where
is your ally Iran in this crisis, and where are your private trade
relations[?]...
"Do you have the capability to infiltrate across the borders of the neighboring
countries in order to kill innocents and to undermine [these countries']
security and stability? Do you have the capability of setting the region ablaze,
from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean? Do you have the capability to steal
both the best of Syria and the crust of bread of the poorest of her sons? [The
answer is] yes, you have all these capabilities – but you do not have the
capability of resolving the problem of the power supply – which all over the
world is considered a basic commodity...
"Enough, Al-'Utri. Enough, you who carry out the orders of the regime. Stop
playing with the livelihood of the poor citizen; stop robbing the country and
the human beings, stop stealing the water, the electricity, and the even the
air, and stop stealing the liberty and the freedom of expression. 
"We remind you, Al-'Utri, and we remind your heroic president, and all the
mercenaries who enjoy [the pleasures of] the regime: The Syrian people will not
take pity on you when the time of salvation comes. The [Syrian] Republican
Guards and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards will not protect you. Your palaces,
armies, and diplomatic immunity will not protect you either. Whatever your
control of the people may be [now], victory is always the ally of the
peoples."(14)    
*H. Varulkar is a research fellow at MEMRI.
Original Source