Скачать или смотреть Al Sadr Shiites meet Sunni association to ease tension

(22 May 2005)

1. Exterior shot of Um al-Qurra mosque, the headquarters of the muslim clerics association
2. Sign: "The muslim clerics association"
3. Shiite delegation of Muqtada al-Sadr entering the headquarters of the muslim clerics association
4. Delegation shaking hands with members of the muslim clerics association
5. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Abdul Hadi al-Daraji, spokesman of Muqtada al-Sadr:
"We are here to talk about the initiative of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that he declared. It is a mediation to Iraq and its people. We found the secretary general of the muslim clerics association and our brothers there who were pleased with what we came with."
6. Delegation entering the headquarters of the muslim clerics association

STORYLINE:

Senior aides of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr met a key Sunni group in Baghdad on Sunday, in a bid to soothe tensions that have flared and also resulted in the death of 10 Shiite and Sunni clerics in the past two weeks.

"There is a wound that needs to be treated and Muqtada was the first to offer his medicine," said Sheik Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi, spokesman for the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars after the talks with the al-Sadr delegation.

The association's leader, Harith al-Dhari, last week pinned the killing of several Sunnis, including clerics, on the Badr Brigades, the military wing of Iraq's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Brigade general secretary Hadi al-Amri has denied the charge and accused the Sunni association of wanting to "push Iraq into a sectarian conflict."

Al-Sadr said in a television interview aired Sunday the talks were aimed at settling the feud between the association and the Badr Bridges.

He resurfaced this week after lying low following fierce battles last year in the southern holy city of Najaf and Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City between his supporters and U.S. forces.

Al-Kubaisi, the Sunni association official, said he handed al-Sadr's delegation a document committing his group to certain steps, but he did not elaborate. More meetings with al-Sadr's group will be held in the future, he said.

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