AFP: Mookie Extends Ceasefire
KUFA, Iraq (AFP) — Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday ordered his followers to prolong the Mahdi Army militia’s ceasefire for another six months, after seeing a dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq.
The decision to maintain the ceasefire was immediately welcomed by relieved US commanders, who once saw the Mahdi Army as the greatest threat to the future of Iraq but now hope Sadr can be a stabilising influence.
Shiite imams in mosques across south and central Iraq opened sealed letters from the Sadrist movement’s leader and read his statement to supporters after Muslim weekly prayers on the half-year anniversary of the truce.
“I prolong the freeze in the activities of the Mahdi Army until the 15th day of the month of Shabaan,” Sadr said, using the Islamic calendar to indicate that the ceasefire will continue until at least August 16.
“I cannot support the crimes of criminals, nor the sins of sinners, and I created this army on the principles of the tradition of the Prophet,” according to the letter read by the imam at Sadr’s mosque in Kufa, Assaad al-Nasiri.
Sadr did not appear publicly at Friday prayers, and it is not clear where he is now based. Some reports have suggested that he has crossed the border into Iraq’s neighbour Iran, but his group would not confirm this.
The decision to continue the ceasefire was not universally welcomed by Sadr’s supporters, some of whom had been hoping for a return to their former campaign of violence against US and Iraqi security forces.