Rival Shiites in Iraq Try to Make Peace

Bradley Brooks, from AP reports that Al-Sadr representatives met for a second time in a week to resolve their differences and make peace.

Representatives of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr met Thursday with officials from his chief rival's party in an effort to cement a tenuous peace agreement the two signed in October after violent clashes between their followers. It was at least the second formal overture al-Sadr has made to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim and his Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the largest Shiite political party, in less than a week. Peace between the two — who each control powerful militias — is seen as key to preventing the outbreak of widespread fighting in oil-rich southern Iraq, where the British military recently handed over responsibility for security to Iraq's government in Basra, the last province it controlled.

Hakim is not only pursuing peace with Al-Sadr, but also with Sunnis,

Separately on Thursday, al-Hakim called for unity among Shiites, arguing that closing ranks would benefit the whole of Iraq since they are the majority. "Every one must work to support and boost this unity," he told supporters in Najaf. He also acknowledged the contribution of Sunni militias, which have more than 70,000 members, to the decline in violence and called for their use in the continuing fight against al-Qaida in Iraq. "Today, we are witnessing the decline of terrorism and the progress of reconciliation on the popular level with Sunni-Shiite solidarity," he said, alluding to the government's perceived failure to achieve political reconciliation among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish groups.

Hakim and Sadr are worried about the "memorandum of understanding" between the Kurds, Sunnis and Maliki's Dawa party that would exclude them from power in Baghdad. We will see if this works.