Al-Ameri and al-Sadr meeting aimed to spare Iraq Shiite-Shiite strife, leading figure says

Shafaq News/ Saturday's meeting between the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, and the head of al-Fatah bloc, Hadi al-Ameri, aimed to spare Iraq a "strife" between the blocs of the Shiite component, leading figure in the Coordination Framework, Waad Qaddu, revealed on Sunday morning.

Qaddu told Shafaq News Agency, "the purpose of al-Ameri's meeting with al-Sadr was to alleviate the tension, address the crises, and reach a common ground between the Framework and the Sadrist movement."

"The talks will contribute to the assembly of the largest bloc, thaw the constrained ties, and put the country on the right track to spare it a strife that some parties are working to incite between the blocs of the Shiite component."

Yesterday, al-Ameri and al-Sadr held a tête-à-tête meeting in the latter's headquarters in al-Hannana, north of Najaf.

The meeting was the first of its kind since the parliamentary election held in October of the past year.

The Sadrist movement has been mobilizing impetus behind a "National Majority Government", challenging the status quo "consensus governments", which the Coordination Framework, a consortium of Iraqi Shiite political forces, have been lobbying for.

al-Sadr has said he will ally himself with whoever puts Iraq's national interests first. That is an indication, Iraqi officials and Western diplomats say, that he may exclude some Iran-backed Shiite blocs in favor of parties with cross-sectarian support.