IRAQ: Failure to defeat or defuse Moqtada al-Sadr's armed rebellion and "impose the rule of law" in Iraq would jeopardise national elections and have "dire consequences for the country and the region", Iraq's deputy prime minister, Mr Barham Salih, said yesterday.
"No one should underestimate the seriousness of the challenge posed by the Sadr militia.
"We must restore law and order to the trouble spots in Iraq so that we can hold elections in four months' time. Iraqis can't afford anything but a success in this situation. It's a difficult challenge but it can and must be done," Mr Salih said.
His comments came as the fighting in Najaf - where US and Iraqi forces are besieging Mahdi army fighters holed up at the shrine of Imam Ali - showed no sign of easing. The uprising risks undermining Ayad Allawi's administration, which knows that an attack on the holy shrine could provoke the Shia, especially moderates who disapprove of Mr Sadr.
Mr Salih, who is also a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two groups controlling Kurdistan, said the government's reluctance to engage in a "full-scale onslaught" in Najaf should not be seen as as a "lack of resolve". "We are well aware of the sensitivities of the shrine and what it represents to Muslims in Iraq and across the world. That is a responsible position, and it is a mark of the strength of the government. Military means should be the last resort.
"But if Mr Sadr is adamant about maintaining the armed challenge, then the government has no option but to respond."
The violence in the holy city, which has spread to other southern Iraqi cities as well as Shia areas of the capital, has underlined the problems faced by the interim government, whose tenuous grip on much of the south - as well as restive areas of the Sunni triangle - is heavily reliant on US-led multinational forces.
"We are absolutely not a puppet. The multinational forces here are a significant component of the reality of Iraq today and we have to be mindful of some operational issues. But the reality is that government makes the decisions, and we stand or fall by them. The decision not to tolerate the continued existence of the al-Mahdi militia is ours," Mr Salih said.
He called for the al-Sadr supporters to leave the shrine, disarm and form a peaceful political organisation. "We have only four months until elections. Let them organise and contest."