In an announcement yesterday, Shi'ite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr called on his men to stop fighting the armed government forces in Basra.
Al-Sadr also declared that he would cut off relations with anyone who did not lay down his arms, but some of his men said that even so they would refuse.
Meanwhile, Iraqi MP from the Sadrist bloc Ghafran Al-Sa'edi said that his faction would strive to topple the Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki if it persisted in fighting the Sadrists.
Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, March 31, 2008











