Sadr City: a fragile truce

Wednesday 02 April 2008

The curfew in Baghdad lifted, FRANCE 24's Lucas Menget made his way through Iraqi checkpoints to the Shia district of Sadr City, despite the tight control the US and the Iraqi military keep on the neighbourhood.

Read Lucas' impressions about the situation in Baghdad in his reporter's notebook:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered his security forces to stop random raids and arrests following a week of military assaults against militants loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

"The prime minister has ordered a halt to all kinds of raids and arrests without warrants," said a statement issued by Maliki's office.
   
He has, however, ordered his security forces to "deal strongly with any groups carrying arms in public."

In Sadr City, a sprawling Shia stronghold named after Sadr’s late father, ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, where up to two million people live, the situation is still tense, says France 24’s Lucas Menget.

“Just a half hour ago, we heard some fighting and shelling,” Menget said.

Sadr City is also one of three Baghdad suburbs that are still under curfew. Heavy concrete walls block access to its streets so that even ambulances from the Iraqi Red Crescent have had to turn back, Menget reports.
   
“Nobody knows exactly how many people died or were wounded in Sadr City last week,” Menget added. “We know that there are shortages of food, drugs, electricity and water.”
 
A week ago, Prime Minister Maliki ordered a military crackdown on militants in the southern oil city of Basra. The militants were mostly from Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.
   
The crackdown quickly set off wave of clashes between the militiamen and security forces in Basra and other Shiite areas of Iraq such as Sadr City in which at least 461 people were killed and more than 1,100 wounded.
   
Sadr on Sunday reined in his fighters and ordered them off the streets, signaling an end to the intense firefights that rocked the country.

“Sadr thanked his men for stopping the fighting,” Menget explained. “But that being said, the fighting hasn’t completely stopped.”  Sadr hasn’t been located since, Menget added, and there are speculations that he might be in Iran.

“Sadr and the Iraqi government are negotiating and that may be the reason why the curfew has been maintained, so as to keep pressure on Shia and Sadr followers,” Menget concluded.
 

Vidéo

• 

  IN THE FIELD

  Lucas Menget: "Violence is still very important in Iraq" 02/04, 10pm GMT+2
• 

  IN THE FIELD

  Lucas Menget: "Sadr City is still under curfew," 01/04, 4pm GMT+2

Pour aller plus loin

IRAQ: Back in Baghdad (09/04/2008)
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT - IRAQ: Curfew lifted as Baghdad clashes continue (01/04/2008)
IRAQ: Basra returning to normal after Sadr truce (31/03/2008)
IRAQ: Iraq's Sadr threatens 'civil revolt' (26/03/2008)
IRAQ: Iraq: 5 years of war (25/01/2008)