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Sadr City Breathing After Ceasefire
BAGHDAD — After weeks of bloodshed and skirmishes, life in the Baghdad Shiite bastion of Sadr City is slowly returning to normality thanks to a just-minted ceasefire between the government and Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, blessed by the US.
"Although I'm happy that fights have ceased," Hussein Abdel-Kader, a 35-year-old resident, told IslamOnline.net.
Guns fell silent in Sadr City Sunday for the first time in weeks after Sadrists and the government struck a deal on Saturday, May 11, to end fighting.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wants to disband Sadr's Mahdi Army militia before October provincial elections.
The Sadrists have long defied such calls and the details of the 14-point ceasefire agreement remains under wraps.
"I feel like I have to start my life again," said Abdel-Kader.
"I have lost my shop during the attack and don't know where I'm going to find money to feed my family now," he fumes.
"Finally I could return to my home with my family," says a jubilant Mariam Ala'a, a 56-year-old woman.
"I was living in a displacement camp for nearly a month."
She had to fled the fierce fighting that pitched Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters against US and Iraqi government troops.
"Our home was in the center of the battle and rockets fell in our garden. I had two grandsons injured but now I hope we can live with safety again."
Hundreds of people have been killed and more injured in Sadr City since March 25 in clashes between militiamen and US and Iraqi troops.
The clashes had erupted after Maliki ordered a crackdown on Mahdi Army fighters in the main southern city of Basra.
The fighting swiftly spread to other Sadr strongholds of Iraq, particularly Sadr City.
More
Guns fell silent in Sadr City Sunday for the first time in weeks after Sadrists and the government struck a deal on Saturday, May 11, to end fighting.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wants to disband Sadr's Mahdi Army militia before October provincial elections.
The Sadrists have long defied such calls and the details of the 14-point ceasefire agreement remains under wraps.
"I feel like I have to start my life again," said Abdel-Kader.
"I have lost my shop during the attack and don't know where I'm going to find money to feed my family now," he fumes.
"Finally I could return to my home with my family," says a jubilant Mariam Ala'a, a 56-year-old woman.
"I was living in a displacement camp for nearly a month."
She had to fled the fierce fighting that pitched Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters against US and Iraqi government troops.
"Our home was in the center of the battle and rockets fell in our garden. I had two grandsons injured but now I hope we can live with safety again."
Hundreds of people have been killed and more injured in Sadr City since March 25 in clashes between militiamen and US and Iraqi troops.
The clashes had erupted after Maliki ordered a crackdown on Mahdi Army fighters in the main southern city of Basra.
The fighting swiftly spread to other Sadr strongholds of Iraq, particularly Sadr City.
More
For more information:
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satelli...
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