Al-Sadr back in Iraq stronghold

The Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has returned to his home city of Najaf in central Iraq, after an absence of four years.

"Muqtada al-Sadr has returned to his home in Najaf. He arrived about 3:00 pm [1200 GMT] with several leaders from the Sadr movement," an anonymous source told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.

The source, cited as being part of al-Sadr's movement, said the cleric had left Iraq at the end of 2006.

Al-Sadr is reported to have been in Iran pursuing religious studies in the holy city of Qom.

His return follows a strong showing by his bloc in last year's parliamentry election and his crucial support for Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister.

It was not immediately clear how long al-Sadr would stay in Iraq or whether the return marked a permanent decision to remain in the country, where his presence would certainly mark a significant shift in Iraqi politics.

Al-Sadr, said to be in his 30s, gained wide popularity among Shias in Iraq in the months after the US-led invasion of 2003, when his Mahdi Army fighters battled US troops.

In August 2008, he suspended the activities of his fighters, which once numbered in the tens of thousands, following major US and Iraqi assaults on its strongholds in Baghdad and southern Iraq in the spring of that year.

Cabinet positions

Ahmed Rushdie, an Iraqi journalist, spoke to Al Jazeera from Baghdad about the significance of al-Sadr’s return.

Rushdie said the return puts pressure on al-Maliki, especially now that he is appointing ministers for security positions in his cabinet.

"Muqtada al-Sadr and his followers now are making a lot of deals trying to enter such delicate positions," Rushdie said.

Rushdie added that the situation raises concerns about how the Shia arm in Iraq would deal with such negotiations, "especially since they are very concerned with the American withdrawal from Iraq, how to control such positions and how to distribute the whole cabinet's positions".

Rushdie said he felt the peace made between al-Sadr and al-Maliki "is very fragile, it is not on a very concrete base".

"Maliki until now didn't make a concrete promise to Muqtada al-Sadr that he will participate in the cabinet effectively and especially in security matters," he said.

Rushdie said he felt "the Americans have the upper hand" over the appointment of security positions.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies