NAJAF, Iraq – Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accepted a peace plan Wednesday calling for his militiamen to disarm and leave their hide-out in a revered shrine, raising hopes of ending a battle that has threatened to undermine Iraq’s fledgling interim government.
But gunfire and explosions crackled across Najaf after the deal was announced, and there was no indication of whether there could be a quick end to two weeks of fighting between al-Sadr’s forces and U.S. soldiers and government troops in this holy city.
Al-Sadr has made contradictory statements in the past, and aides to the cleric said he still wanted to negotiate details of the peace deal.
In Washington, the Bush administration said al-Sadr needed to match words with deeds. “We have seen many, many times al-Sadr assume or say he is going to accept certain terms and then it turns out not to be the case,” said Condoleezza Rice, President Bush’s national security adviser.
Al-Sadr’s loyalists and a combined U.S.-Iraqi force have been fighting for nearly two weeks throughout Najaf, battling in the vast graveyard and in the streets of its Old City.
The cease-fire agreement was announced at the National Conference in Baghdad, which had sent a delegation to negotiate with al-Sadr.
The conference, a gathering of more than 1,200 prominent Iraqis that was seen as an important milestone on the country’s path to democracy, spilled into an unscheduled fourth day Wednesday so it could choose members of an interim National Council. The council is to act as a watchdog over the interim government until elections in January.
Disputes persisted at the conference throughout the day over how to choose 81 elected members of the council, with small parties complaining they were being strong-armed by the large factions into accepting their slate of candidates.
A planned vote to affirm a slate of 81 candidates was called off at the last minute, and the conference organizers simply affirmed the group – to the dismay of many of those who were not included in the council. The final 19 members of the 100-member council will be members of the former U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council who were left out of the interim government.
Associated Press
U.S. soldiers run through a school courtyard during a gunbattle with insurgents Wednesday in Najaf, Iraq.
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