Sadr to dissolve militia if US withdraws from Iraq

NAJAF, IRAQ (AFP), Suara Indonesia News - Radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr has ordered his Mahdi Army militia to lay down its arms if a security pact between Baghdad and Washington provides for a withdrawal from Iraq, his spokesman said on Friday.

"We want to see whether the provisions of the agreement are serious. We will be satisfied if the agreement contains the withdrawal of US forces," Salah al-Obeidi, chief spokesman for the Sadr movement, told AFP.

"If so, we will complete the reorganisation of the Mahdi Army which aims to transform it into a social organisation," he said in the Shiite stronghold of Najaf, about 160 kilometres (99 miles) south of Baghdad.

But he also warned that if the withdrawal terms were not written into the agreement then Sadr's forces would remain armed.

"We will be forced to await the decision of withdrawal of American forces."

Baghdad and Washington are still negotiating an agreement that would govern US troop levels and allow them to operate after a UN mandate expires at the end of the year.

US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed in principle last November to sign a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in Iraq by the end of July, but controversy has delayed the arrangement.

The proposed pact has drawn sharp criticism from Iraq's various political factions, especially from the deeply anti-American Sadr.

He announced in June that he would replace the 60,000-strong Mahdi Army with a leaner and meaner fighting force to target the US-led occupation.

Other members of the militia will refocus on cultural and religious issues in the poverty-stricken slums of central and southern Iraq, Sadr's main power base.

A ceasefire drawn up a year ago has been a key factor in violence levels dropping to four-year lows.

The reform of the Mahdi Army could eventually lead to the emergence of a movement modelled on the Palestinian Hamas or Lebanese Hezbollah, experts have said.

Maliki said last month that he was negotiating for the deal to set a timetable for a withdrawal of foreign forces.

Iraqi politicians have bristled at the idea of a continuing defence pact with the United States, but have also said they are on track to concluding an arrangement.

They have also expressed reservations about how many bases Washington should retain, what powers the US military should continue to hold to detain Iraqi civilians, and what immunity US troops should have from Iraqi law.

The White House has so far refused to be locked into a fixed date for withdrawing US combat troops, but has suggested a series of target dates for giving Iraqis control over security in different parts of the war-torn country.

With about 142,500 American troops still Iraq, the issue is politically sensitive in Washington as the November US presidential election draws nearer. by Hassan Abdul Zahra