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Sadr Disarmament

The disarmament of militia forces identified with the revolutionary Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was meant to secure much needed calm before the elections in Iraq. The militia forces have willingly surrendered their weapons a few months ago. This was construed as the first stage in reaching a peace treaty that will calm down things considerably.

Iraq`s temporary administration - and many clash-weary citizens of the City of Sadr -are heralding the peace agreement, and hope it ends Mr. Sadr`s longstanding revolt. But some of the cleric`s own gunmen are not yet convinced that the carrot - in the form of $500 million in aid for this poor neighborhood of Baghdad - won`t again morph into a US military stick after they`ve handed in their weapons.

Radical groups remain according to Shiite observers. Some are determined to continue the war and may not accept Sadr`s apparent offer to alter his popular uprising into a political force in Iraq`s up-and-coming democracy.