Shi'ite factions, officials sign truce

Iraqi soldiers OK'd in Sadr City

US soldiers used smoke to take cover from snipers in the Shi'ite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad yesterday. (Petr David Josek/Associated Press)

BAGHDAD - Representatives of Iraq's main Shi'ite Muslim factions signed a deal yesterday clearing the way for Iraqi soldiers to operate throughout Sadr City, a vast Baghdad slum that is largely under the control of militiamen loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The signatures put an official seal to a truce that was brokered over the weekend by Sadr's political representatives and members of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's governing alliance.

Negotiators said they hoped the deal would mark the close of more than seven weeks of fighting in the district, which has claimed hundreds of lives. But it remained to be seen whether all the groups that have taken up arms in Sadr City would adhere to the accord.

The US military said its troops in the southeastern portion of the district had come under attack at least three times since the deal began to take effect on Sunday and had killed three gunmen. Iraqi soldiers had also traded sporadic fire with neighborhood fighters, residents said. The district's two main hospitals had received four bodies and treated 24 wounded since late Sunday, officials said.

Some militiamen said they were waiting for orders from Sadr before setting aside their weapons. But Sadr's chief negotiator, Sheik Salah Obeidi, said yesterday the cleric had issued written instructions authorizing his representatives to sign the deal and urging his followers to uphold it.

The fighting erupted in late March when Maliki's government began a crackdown in the southern oil hub of Basra aimed primarily at Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.

The government said the operation was intended to restore order in the lawless city, which generates much of the country's crucial oil revenue. But Sadr's followers accused factions within Maliki's alliance, one of which also has an armed wing, of using the crackdown to weaken the cleric's movement ahead of provincial elections slated for the fall.

The fighting in Basra subsided in five days, but the crackdown sparked a fierce uprising in Sadr City and other Shi'ite neighborhoods in Baghdad that has dragged on for weeks.

In April, US forces moved into the southern third of Sadr City, from which shells were being aimed at their bases and the Green Zone, the fortified enclave across the Tigris River that houses the US Embassy and many government offices. The troops are sealing off the area with a 3-mile-long concrete barrier that is about 80 percent complete.

But US and Iraqi commanders did not want to provoke an all-out showdown with the Mahdi Army by pushing into the rest of Sadr City, which is home to an estimated 2.5 million people.

Under the deal signed yesterday, all sides will suspend military activity for four days beginning Sunday, after which Iraqi forces will have free rein to search Sadr City for weapons and fighters, provided they have a warrant. A committee supervised by Maliki will monitor operations and investigate any reported abuses.

In return, the governing parties have pledged to open up more roads into the district, increase humanitarian assistance, compensate residents for their losses, and help the thousands displaced to return home.

Khalid Attiya, Parliament's deputy speaker who led negotiations for Maliki's alliance, described the deal at a joint news conference yesterday as a "road map to implement stability in Sadr City and the rule of law."

But both sides acknowledge the way is riddled with potential pitfalls.

Maliki insists that the Mahdi army must ultimately be disbanded, a point Sadr's followers are not prepared to discuss.

Sadr's representatives have also underlined that they will not accept the participation of US-led forces in any searches. Obeidi said the governing alliance assured his team that Iraqi forces would have no need to call for US assistance, provided Sadr's followers cooperate.