BAGHDAD, 7 October 2007 — Two of Iraq’s most influential Shiites leaders, Moqtada Sadr and Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim, agreed a deal yesterday aimed at ending months of deadly rivalry.
The three-point agreement was aimed at “enhancing relations between the two groups and maintaining the Islamic and the national interest,” a statement from Hakim said. “First: the necessity to maintain and respect the Iraqi blood (to stop bloodletting) under whatever circumstances or by any party. Bloodletting is contrary to all legislations and morals,” it said.
The remaining two points talked about uniting their media and cultural efforts and setting up a joint committee with provincial branches to keep order between their factions.
Sadr’s movement, formed soon after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, is backed by a thousands-strong militia known as the Mahdi Army and is the most powerful Shiite group in Iraq.
Hakim is the head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), another of the most powerful Shiite factions in the country and a pillar of the ruling coalition.
