BAGHDAD —
Iraq’s firebrand
Shiite cleric
Moqtada Al-Sadr backtracked Tuesday after
earlier urging his supporters to join a massive rally as a standoff with his
political rivals appeared to be getting worse.
اضافة اعلان
The populist cleric’s announcement came amid behind
the scenes talks aimed at steering Iraq out of crisis, with the country’s two
branches of Shiite Islam jockeying for supremacy.
More than 10 months on from elections, Iraq still
has no government, new prime minister or new president, because of disagreement
between factions over forming a coalition.
Sadr wants parliament dissolved to pave the way for
new legislative elections, but his rivals the
pro-Iran Coordination Framework want to set conditions and are demanding a transitional government before new
polls.
The cleric’s bloc emerged from last October’s
elections as parliament’s biggest, but still far short of a majority.
Sadr, whose supporters have been staging a sit-in
protest outside parliament in Baghdad’s high security Green Zone for more than
two weeks, had called for a “million-man demonstration” in the capital on
Saturday.
But on Tuesday he announced on Twitter “the
indefinite postponement of Saturday’s protest”.
“If you had been betting on a civil war, I am
betting on preserving social peace. The blood of Iraqis is more precious than
anything else,” Sadr said.
Late on Monday, a committee organizing
demonstrations in support of the Coordination Framework also announced new
gatherings, but without setting a date.
The Coordination Framework launched their own
Baghdad sit-in on Friday, camping out on an avenue in the capital.
The Coordination Framework comprises former
paramilitaries of the Tehran-backed
Hashed Al-Shaabi network and the party of
former premier Nuri Al-Maliki, a longtime Sadr foe.
So far the rival Shiite protests have been peaceful,
with attempts at mediation ongoing.
Hadi Al-Ameri, leader of a Hashed faction, has also
called for calm and for dialogue. He has had a series of meetings with
political leaders including allies of Sadr.
Also on Tuesday, Finance Minister Ali Allawi who is
in the current government submitted his resignation to the Council of
Ministers, the INA state news agency reported.
Iraq has been ravaged by decades of conflict and
endemic corruption.
It is blighted by ailing infrastructure, power cuts
and crumbling public services, and now also faces water shortages as drought
ravages swathes of the country.
Despite its oil wealth, many Iraqis are mired in
poverty, and some 35 percent of young people are unemployed, according to the
UN.
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