Sanctions leave Iraq short of brain power
 
 BAGHDAD, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Potentially oil-rich Iraq is  straining from a deficit of intellectual capital thanks to  nearly a decade of stringent United Nations trade sanctions,  analysts said on Saturday.
Iraq's professional class, many of whom were trained abroad  during the 1960s, is fast approaching retirement age. And there  is a shortage of bright young sparks to fill their shoes.

"We are looking for the next generation, but they're not  here," a Western diplomat in Baghdad said.

Its long history of education and skilled labour eroded by  sanctions, Iraq will be left in want of a highly-trained  workforce when it comes to rebuild and expand its vast oil  wealth, said Washington-based Iraq analyst Christine Helms.

"They will not be able to upgrade and reconstruct the  country unless they get outside help," a Western oil industry  executive said.

SKILLED WORKERS TAKE FLIGHT

But Iraq is faced with more than the greying of its skilled  workforce.

"There has been a real exodus from Iraq since the embargo,  essentially for economic reasons," an official in Baghdad said.  "Hundreds of engineers have up and left in order to make money  abroad and send it home to their families."

Some analysts reckon up to four million Iraqis have fled to  Jordan, Britain, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and the United States.

An eventual easing of U.N. sanctions -- imposed on Iraq for  its 1990 invasion of Kuwait -- might lure Iraqis on the outside  back into their country, which has a population of 22 million,  if the public and private sectors are encouraged.

"If the economy gets back on line, people will return,"  Helms said.

"There is a genuine feeling of nationalism among those who  have left," said Raad Alkadiri of Petroleum Finance Corp.

BRIDGING THE GAP

But even if the diaspora returns when sanctions are eased,  Iraq will still need a foreign helping hand to get back on its  feet, an Iraqi analyst said.

"There is a huge gap in skilled labour," said an official  in Baghdad. "People are not being trained and developed in the  right way because teachers themselves are pitifully paid and  lacking inspiration."

Though Iraq's universities are still open, standards have  slipped -- galling for a country which once prided itself on  raising literacy rates. Many university professors have left  Iraq in search of better salaries.

Hans von Sponeck, the top U.N. humanitarian official in  Baghdad who recently announced his resignation, described Iraq's  educational system as "totally inadequate."

Hardly surprising then that among the younger, educated  generation there is a feeling of bitterness.

"Even those with higher education feel they cannot really  achieve anything," an Iraqi engineer said. "It's frustrating  because they are living in a country which has the potential to  be very rich."

Sitting atop 112 billion barrels of proven oil reserves,  Iraq is second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of potential oil  wealth.

Iraq's professionals have also become demoralised by  sanctions. "The embargo has virtually destroyed the middle  class," said a Western-educated Iraqi analyst.

"We have become backward," he said, adding "for us, it's  a luxury to own a computer."