Clashes continue between Iraq's rival Shiite groups

The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (pictured) today called on his followers to end clashes with Shiite rivals so stalled talks on a new constitution can proceed.

Clashes continued for a second day after the cleric’s office in Najaf was burned and four of his supporters were killed.

Following the appeal by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, leaders of the country’s political factions met in the Green Zone to try to hammer out an agreement on the draft constitution on the final day of an extension granted on Monday night by parliament after Sunni Arabs blocked a vote on the accord accepted by Shiite and Kurdish negotiators.

After meeting 15 Sunni members of the constitution drafting committee, Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani said consensus on the new constitution could be reached soon.

It was unclear whether parliament would meet today to vote on the draft.

Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the drafting committee, said politicians were supposed to meet later today to ratify it.

But Shiite representative Khaled al-Attiyah said there was not need to vote because “the job was done” when the draft was handed to parliament on Monday. Another Shiite, Nadim al-Jabiri, said there will be no vote today because the draft will be approved or rejected in a popular referendum on October 15.

Speaking in his home in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, al-Sadr urged “all believers to spare the blood of the Muslims and to return to their homes”.

“I will not forget this attack on the office … but Iraq is passing through a critical and difficult period that requires unity,” he said.

He demanded that Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the rival Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, to condemn “what his followers have done.” SCIRI has denied any role in the attack on al-Sadr’s office.

“I urge the believers not to attack innocent civilians and not to fall for Americans plots that aim to divide us,” al-Sadr said. “We are passing through a critical period and a political process.”

The crisis erupted yesterday when al-Sadr’s supporters tried to reopen his office across the street from the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, the most sacred Shiite shrine in Iraq. Rivals tried to stop the move, fights broke out and the office was set on fire.

Armed attacks against offices of al-Sadr’s movement and SCIRI then spread across the Shiite heartland of central and southern Iraq. Twenty-one pro-al-Sadr members of parliament and three top government officials announced they were stopping official duties in protest of the Najaf attack.

Politician Bahaa al-Araji today said the suspension would continue “until the leader’s demands are met and until the investigation is over”.

Before al-Sadr spoke, the violence continued today.

Al-Sadr supporters in Diwaniyah, 105 miles south of Baghdad, occupied parts of the city, setting up checkpoints and firing on police and rival groups, said police Capt. Hussein Hakim.

Some residents were fleeing to nearby villages, he said.

SCIRI members torched a building belonging to the al-Sadr’s movement in the Baghdad suburb Nahrawan, police Lt. Ayad Othman. In retaliation, al-Sadr’s followers set fire to an office of SCIRI’s Badr Brigade militia in Baghdad’s heavily Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City.

Clashes were also underway in Amarah, where al-Sadr’s militiamen attacked the headquarters of the Badr group with mortars. Five attackers were killed, al-Sadr officials claimed.

Armed clashes broke out before dawn in Basra, the country’s second largest city and the major metropolis of the south, but the city settled down after daybreak, police and residents said.

The new violence came as the US Defence Department announced it was ordering 1,500 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to Iraq to provide security for the October 15 referendum on the proposed constitution and the December national elections.

Iraqi political figures moved quickly to contain the crisis, which flared as the country was also facing a virulent insurgency led by Sunni Arabs in central, northern and western Iraq.

Talabani, a Kurd, telephoned al-Sadr today to appeal for restraint. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a Shiite who has cultivated ties to al-Sadr, condemned the attack that triggered the uprising and promised that “the government will start an immediate investigation” into the incident.

During his press conference today, al-Sadr criticised the Shiite-led government, in which SCIRI plays a major role.

“What we want is that the voice of people be louder than the voice of the government,” he said. “There is elements who fired shots near Imam Ali Shrine, and we know who are stationed near the shrine. Anyone who committed aggression on the al-Sadr office will receive his punishment.”

Al-Sadr also criticised portions of the draft constitution, saying it was not strong enough against Saddam Hussein’s Baath party.

Al-Sadr also spoke out against federalism, which is also opposed by the Sunni Arabs.

“We reject federalism and if America has schemes, it should not try to implement those schemes at once,” al-Sadr said.

Al-Sadr, the son of an eminent cleric believed to have been murdered by Saddam Hussein’s regime, has been among the most outspoken Shiites opposed to the US military presence in Iraq.

Beginning in April 2004, he led two Shiite uprisings against US-led forces after the occupation authorities closed his newspaper, arrested key aides and issued a warrant charging him in the assassination of a rival cleric in Najaf.

Hundreds died in the uprisings. Since then, the fiery young cleric has emerged as a major political figure. The warrant against him has been largely forgotten.

The internal Shiite crisis occurred as time was running out for Shiite and Kurdish leaders to persuade the Sunni Arabs to accept the draft constitution. Sunnis oppose several parts, chief among them a plan which could lead to a giant Shiite federated state in central and southern Iraq.

Yesterday, Talabani said stability could not be achieved without consensus among Iraq’s Shiites, Sunnis Arabs and Kurds.

SCIRI’s leader called for such a federated state this month, but Sunni Arabs fear that would lead to the disintegration of Iraq. Al-Sadr also opposes federalism.

Sunni Arabs also insist that the factions agree unanimously on the draft constitution. But if al-Sadr’s allies in parliament continue their boycott, it would be difficult for the draft’s supporters to argue that it had the support of all Iraqi communities.