Militia to Hand Weapons to Iraq Police

[Rose Siding]

snip>
Ali Smeisem, a senior aide to al-Sadr, said the Mahdi Army militia would begin turning in medium and heavy weapons at three Baghdad police stations Monday in an operation expected to last five days.

As a confidence-building measure, the government will suspend raids on al-Sadr's followers in the capital's northeastern Sadr City district, site of weeks of clashes with U.S. and Iraqi forces, Smeisem said.

The minister in charge of national security, Qassem Dawoud, said the government was pleased with the agreement, "which aims at sparing Iraqi blood, supporting sovereign law and the peace process in Iraq."

Dawoud told Al-Arabiya television that once officials verify the weapons handover is complete, they will begin paying compensation to people who lost property during the fighting and financing reconstruction projects. Iraqi police and soldiers will be in charge of law and order in the Shiite district, he added.

Al-Sadr's movement is still pressing for guarantees the government will stop pursuing members and release the cleric's detained followers but is willing to wait for a deal on those points, Smeisem said.

So far, al-Sadr has not pledged to disband his militia, a key U.S. and Iraqi government demand. But American and Iraqi authorities are eager to end the clashes in the Shiite stronghold so they can concentrate on suppressing the Sunni insurgency.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/20041009/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[FormerOstrich]

1. Is this for real?

Is this the October surprise? Is this the beginning of the end to the violence? As much as I hate that * would get a boost from such, I really hope it is marking the end to the violence.

Please help me understand???