BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government and representatives of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced Saturday that they had struck a deal to halt weeks of fighting in a Baghdad slum. But disagreements over the content of the accord cast doubt on whether it would end the bloodshed.
Word of a possible breakthrough came as the Iraqi military announced the start of a long-promised crackdown in the northern city of Mosul, described by the U.S. military as the last urban stronghold of Sunni Arab militants loyal to al-Qaida in Iraq.
Iraqi police and soldiers fanned out in several neighborhoods on that city’s north side, searching homes for weapons and fighters as residents waited inside. There were no immediate reports of clashes.
The extent of the deal between the government and al-Sadr’s supporters, which was brokered by lawmakers and is scheduled to take effect today, quickly became murky Saturday.
Under the terms announced by the cleric’s lead negotiator, Sheik Salah Obeidi, al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia would set aside their weapons and allow the government to pursue individuals wanted for attacks, provided that there is a warrant. In return, the government would stop what he called “random” raids and open blocked roads into the cleric’s Baghdad stronghold, Sadr City.
Obeidi said the document made no mention of the government’s demand that the militia disband and surrender its medium- and heavy-grade weapons — points the cleric’s representatives are not prepared to discuss.
But Ali Dabbagh, a spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said all sides had agreed that only the government is authorized to maintain an army and impose law.
“The government has the right to raid and search any place that is suspected to contain heavy and medium weapons,” he said.
Obeidi also said the agreement allows only Iraqi forces to conduct raids in Sadr City, not the U.S. military. But Dabbagh said that the deal did not address the role of foreign troops, a point underscored by Hadi Amri, a member of the ruling alliance’s negotiating team.
“There is no point that prevents the Americans from performing military operations in Sadr City,” Amri said. “The U.S. forces are and will continue bombing … the places that are launching mortar rounds or rockets at their bases and/or the Green Zone.”
Even if the discrepancies can be ironed out, it remains to be seen whether the gunmen who claim allegiance to the cleric in Sadr City will honor the accord.
The U.S. military publicly maintains that those fighting in Sadr City are members of breakaway factions who have disregarded a unilateral cease-fire declared by al-Sadr in August. But commanders privately concede that the uprising in Sadr City has become more widespread in recent weeks.
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