Dead Dogs and Flies

This unfortunate creature lays rotting at the side of the road. Another one was located within 20 yards but there was too much of a fly party going on to get close enough for another grisly shot. It seems like the municipality's road sweepers - who it has to be said do a great job of making Amman by far the cleanest city in region - do not venture here.

Young Nayef passes the day playing on an improvised swing which acts as the childrens'only play area. In the background are the million dollar plus villas which chatacterise much of this district.

Survey reveals less than half of Jordanians use mobile phones

By Paul Tate

AMMAN — Far fewer Jordanians use mobile phones than previously estimated, according to a recent Arab Advisors Group survey.

The study, conducted by the Amman-based research and consultancy company, reveals that less than half the population use cellular phones.

“Multiple line use by the same individuals and the presence of expatriates outside official population figures, set Jordan’s Effective Mobile Penetration Rate at around 48 per cent,” the survey says.

This figure is 26 percentage points lower than the 74.2 per cent penetration rate given by mobile operators at the end of 2006, based on the number of lines (4.15 million) divided by the population.

The Arab Advisors’ survey employs what the company describes as the “Effective Mobile Penetration” measure in order to gain a “more accurate analysis of cellular markets”.

According to Jawad Abbasi, the company’s founder and general manager, the survey takes into account the growing trend of individuals owning multiple lines and estimates the population, including expatriates and migrant workers, to be half a million more than official statistics.

“The Effective Mobile Penetration Rate considers the percentage of individuals with one or more mobile lines and is calculated by dividing the number of the estimated individual mobile users [and not mobile lines] by the estimated actual population figure [including expatriates and migrant workers],” he said in a press statement.

“Based on the survey findings, the ratio of the number of lines to the number of mobile users is 1:4. Applying this ratio to the reported total number of mobile lines, the actual number of individual mobile subscribers in Jordan was estimated at 2.9 million subscribers by end of 2006,” he added.

The survey says the trend of having more than one line is mainly driven by the desire of individuals to capitalise on the different plans, offers and promotions of the operators. A total of 28.5 per cent of cellular users have two lines while 5.7 per cent have three lines.

Just over 58 per cent of respondents who have more than one mobile line state cost saving as the reason.

“On the individual level most respondents own one mobile line: 63.5 per cent of respondents own a single line while 36.5 per cent of respondents own more than one mobile line,” the survey finds.

The Jordan Cellular Users Survey 2007 was conducted through interviews with 509 respondents from different households in Amman, Irbid and Zarqa. The survey has an error margin of less than 6 per cent.

Iraqi exiles celebrate Asian Cup victory

Iraqis in Amman celebrate their team's first Asian Cup triumph (Photo by Nader Daoud)

By Paul Tate

AMMAN — Thousands of Iraqis poured onto the capital’s streets last night to celebrate their national team’s victory in the Asian Cup final.

However, the festivities were marred by several incidents of violence when security forces armed with wooden batons broke up large gathernigs of cheering fans.

In Gardens Street traffic came to a virtual standstill for hours after the match as hundreds of Iraqi exiles packed into cars beeped their horns and waved national flags in celebration at their squad’s historic 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia.

“The team has proved what the human spirit is capable of against all the odds,” said Iraqi engineer Dafar Bashar, currently in Jordan visiting his daughter who is studying at the Amman Ahliyyah Private University.

Jordan is host to some 750,000 Iraqis, who over the past four years have sought refuge from the daily violence racking their country.

“This victory disproves the myth that Iraq is divided along sectarian lines. If only the government could unite Iraqis like this we would be in a much better situation,” added Bashar.

Iraq’s team, which includes a mixture of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, reached the final after knocking out tournament favourites Australia and South Korea in Wednesday’s semifinal.

Hassan, an Iraqi student, who fled to Jordan with his family two years ago, said the victory was a rare moment of happiness in their lives.

“Today we are all Iraqis, we are all Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. We are one people struggling to be free,” he said, adding that his joy was tempered by feelings of sadness at the everyday plight of poor Iraqis both inside and outside his country.

Since the US-led invasion of March 2003, over two million people have fled Iraq, mostly to Jordan and Syria. Millions more are internally displaced.

In one incident, celebrations were marred as security forces broke up a peaceful gathering of hundreds of cheering Iraqis outside a furniture store in the centre of West Amman.

Police officers kicked and beat the crowd with wooden batons as people panicked to flee to saftey. Some youths were taken away by intelligence officers in unmarked cars. Security forces then proceeded to smash up the drums and tamborines that lay discarded on the pavement. The crowd included many women and children.

“Why did they do this? They just started attacking people for no reason. They took away my friend and all he was doing was having fun for a change,” said Ahmad, an Iraqi doctor working in Amman.

A police officer on the scene told The Jordan Times the gathering was broken up due to reports of people firing guns into the air.

However, local shop owners denied these claims.

“I have been watching this celebration from my apartment since the game finished and there has been no firing of guns,” said one local resident, who declined to give her name.

Another officer said police were forced to intervene after revellers had blocked the main road, a claim refuted by eyewitnesses.