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Muqtada al-Sadr urges halt to violence
EFL: Baghdad -- An influential anti-U.S. Shiite cleric joined the campaign to get Sunni leaders to help quell the sectarian violence now roiling Iraq, even as insurgents carried out more attacks against government officials and U.S. troops Sunday. Muqtada al-Sadr, who commands thousands of militia fighters in the slums of Baghdad, sent a delegation to meet with Sunni leaders and appeal for an end to tensions. At least 10 Shiite and Sunni clerics have been killed in recent weeks, prompting speculation that they were retaliatory killings.
Al-Sadr, who had been in hiding since a high-profile clash with U.S.-led forces in August, told Al-Arabiya satellite television that he had returned to the political scene to try to reconcile Muslim factions. "Iraqis need to stand side by side at this time," al-Sadr said, warning that extremists are provoking civil war. Al-Sadr's interview came amid more insurgent violence. On Sunday, gunmen in the capital killed a senior official of the Iraqi Trade Ministry, identified as Ali Moussa, a Ministry of Interior official said. This morning, two carloads of gunmen assassinated a top aide to the Cabinet of Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in central Baghdad, police Lt. Majid Zaki said. The aide, Wael al-Rubaei, was on his way to work; his driver also was killed. Al-Sadr's attempt to help calm the violence could be seen as a challenge to U.S. authority in Iraq. He and his militants have made withdrawal of foreign forces a prerequisite for participation in the emerging political process. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity indicated that al- Sadr's activism will be tolerated by Washington so long as he refrains from "crossing red lines," or violating the U.S.-backed government's goal of peaceful restoration of order and national reconciliation. Al-Sadr's gesture followed Saturday's vow by Sunni clerics, politicians and tribal leaders to unite to recover a measure of the political clout they enjoyed before their patron, Saddam Hussein, was ousted. Shiites and Kurds now hold the most powerful positions in the new government. The Sunni leaders said they will try to forge a common strategy for engagement with Shiites and Kurds in drafting a new constitution and in campaigning for the National Assembly to be elected in December. Sunnis who belonged to Hussein's disbanded Baathist Party have been blamed for driving the insurgency that continues to disrupt reconstruction projects and security more than two years after the U.S.-led invasion brought 150,000 foreign troops to Iraq. In less than four weeks since the new Iraqi government took power, more than 550 people have died in a wave of suicide attacks, drive-by shootings and roadside bombings. Posted by: Steve 2005-05-23 |
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