- The rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday ordered his
Mahdi army militia to halt attacks on coalition and Iraqi government forces
as aides said he was ready to join the US-backed political process.
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- Sadr indicated that the Shia Muslim uprising he has led
might be at an end following last week's peace deal that halted fighting
in the holy city of Najaf. This would be a significant boost for the interim
government.
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- "Due to the situation in Najaf and the provinces
. . . we call on all members of the Mahdi army to cease fire unless in
self-defence, and to be patient until the political programme which Sadr's
followers are planning is revealed," Sheikh Ali Smeisim, a senior
aide to the young cleric, told the Lebanese al-Manar television station.
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- The ceasefire deal was not complete last night, and Sadr
has previously given many conflicting signals about his intentions. After
the Najaf agreement, fighting continued in Sadr City, a Mahdi army stronghold
in Baghdad.
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- Sheikh Mahmoud al-Sudani, another Sadr aide, suggested
that any shift could be tactical and temporary. "The Mahdi army is
now turning to peaceful struggle," he said. "We will have to
see in the future. That could change. But now it is peaceful."
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- Sadr, 31, is being wooed into the political fold, despite
being technically still on the wanted list, accused of murdering a fellow
cleric.
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- He has survived threats by the Americans and the interim
prime minister, Iyad Allawi, that he would be killed or captured, and his
militia withdrew from Najaf last week with many of their weapons.
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- At the Sadr office in the Kadhimiyah district of Baghdad,
Sheikh Raed al-Khadami, the cleric's spokesman in the capital, told The
Daily Telegraph that Sadr would not stand himself but was ready to endorse
candidates in the elections due in January.
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- Mr Khadami said the Mahdi army would not disband. "Its
members are just ordinary people who are ready to fight to protect the
holy sites and the people of Iraq," he said. "Najaf proved that.
When the fighting was over, they just went home."
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- Mr Allawi has said repeatedly that there is no place
in Iraq for private militia groups, but appears to concede that Sadr will
be able to hold his force in reserve while operating in the political arena.
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- American and Iraqi officials believe that this climbdown
is outweighed by the advantages of having Sadr effectively endorse the
political system set up by the US-led occupation that his followers despise.
Mr Khadami even said he wanted "security and stability" in Iraq.
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- If he does put forward candidates for the election, Sadr
could be a formidable opponent for secularists such as Mr Allawi who, like
their US allies, want to avoid an Islamist government at all costs.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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