World News 27-08-2004 Bloody Peace Comes To Najaf who: Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani what: Brokers peace deal to end weeks of violence where: Najaf, Iraq when: Yesterday snippet: "After a day of marches, murder and chaos, real hope of peace finally appeared to have arrived last night in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf," reports The Scotsman after Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq`s most respected cleric, intervened in negotiations around the sacred Imam Ali shrine between government and coalition forces and the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Ayatollah al-Sistani`s bold peace mission to the Shias` holy city "began inauspiciously", observes The Times, "with a mortar attack on the main mosque in the twin city of Kufa, killing 25 al-Sadr followers. Soon afterwards at least 20 Shia marchers in Kufa were killed by gunfire." Ayatollah al-Sistani had told his supporters to remain outside the city but, as the elderly cleric slept after his long journey from Basra, thousands of his supporters evaded stringent police efforts to keep them out. Police say the marchers opened fire first. But last night, Moqtada al-Sadr, the insurgent leader, "was said to have accepted a five-point plan to withdraw all his armed men from the Imam Ali shrine," says BBC News Online, a move that represents a real step towards peace in the city. The plan calls for Najaf and Kufa "to be declared weapons-free cities, for all foreign forces to withdraw from Najaf, for police to be in charge of security, for the government to compensate those harmed by the fighting and for a census to be taken to prepare for elections expected by January." "We are not 100% there yet, we must remember that," said the Ayatollah`s spokesman Hamid al-Khaffaf. "There are still bridges to be crossed. It still could be an unsuccessful deal but the signs are good. A lot of people are very optimistic about this." [... more]

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