Sadr city and other areas returning to normality following fighting

Streets are clogged with rubbish, sewage, people and traffic, just as they always were in the poor slum suburb of Sadr city in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. But the US tanks sitting at main intersections, soldiers manning the turrets, are an ominous reminder that fighting could resume at any moment. A truce was declared last week between US troops and Mehdi Army members loyal to anti-US cleric Moqtada Sadr after three weeks of conflict. An estimated 100 Iraqis died here in the most recent round of fighting, according to figures from Sadr hospital, which was renamed in honour of Sadr's father, a prominent Shi'ite cleric killed by former President Saddam Hussein, after the fall of the regime last spring. "Now the situation is good. All of us were very worried because there was a shortage of water, but now it is OK," Mohammed Ahmed Abdullah, 25, told IRIN, as he stood in front of an outdoor tea stand. "But if the Americans try to come down this street, we will get angry again." The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) tried to deliver 540,000 litres of water per day over the last couple of weeks, Ahmed Khalid al-Rawi, a spokesman for the Baghdad office, told IRIN. "We had to reduce the amount last week because of the violence," al-Rawi said. "Now we're also sending supplies to the hospital. If there is a need for food, we will also distribute food." Iraqi families receive a monthly food ration administered by the Ministry of Trade that appears not to have been disrupted by fighting, al-Rawi said. Shops appeared well stocked on Thursday as vendors on the street sold fruit and vegetables, cigarettes, soft drinks and the like. "Our children are suffering, mainly because they are scared of the sound of bombs the Americans use on us at night," Khalid Majid, 32, who was standing on a street corner, told IRIN. Even though most people appeared to be going about their business, groups of young men stared defiantly at the tanks and US Humvees parked in a central square, although they stayed a safe distance away and appeared not to be armed. Negotiations between interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and Sadr representatives focused on getting the Mehdi Army to give up their weapons. The truce is expected to last until Monday if negotiations continue. "We don't have any big weapons, just the personal ones we have in our houses," Majid Shnachin, told IRIN, referring to a rule put in place by US troops last year that each family could have one machine gun at home. "We would give up our weapons, if the soldiers agreed to leave our city. We don't like the tanks coming here because it scares our children." At the hospital, nurses carried boxes of medical supplies to their wards that had World Health Organization (WHO) stamps on the side. The ICRC delivered supplies to the hospital a couple of weeks ago, cooperating with the Ministry of Health, al-Rawi said. Blood and drugs must also be checked at the MOH before being delivered, Weeam al-Jawahii, the hospital's chief of surgery, told IRIN. "We cannot accept supplies from aid agencies, only from the Ministry of Health, so that we can coordinate," al-Jawahii said. "Sadr's men also monitored the supplies so that no one could steal them." Sadr City is not the only place aid agencies have been operating in recent weeks. ICRC, Un Ponte Per, an Italian aid agency, Islamic Relief, a British NGO, and other groups have distributed medical supplies, food and water in and around the southern city of Najaf in recent weeks. Fighting between the Mehdi Army and US troops near the Imam Ali shrine there destroyed much of the downtown area, killed hundreds of fighters and displaced hundreds of families. "There was a lack of access. Drivers were negotiating to have access to the centre of the city," Simona Torretta, country director for the group, whose name means "A Bridge To" (Baghdad), told IRIN. "There were a lot of problems. But they were proud to go inside and take water to the population." Muslim Hands, a British-based aid agency, helped 170 families in Najaf in recent weeks. The agency donated two water-pumping generators and delivered 20 trucks of water to the city, Nawfal al-Rawi, a Muslim Hands spokesman, told IRIN. Remaining medical supplies from the one metric ton of supplies taken to Fallujah in April by the ICRC apparently were taken to Najaf in recent weeks to help people there, al-Rawi said. Some families who fled Najaf fighting for nearby religious shrines have gone back to their homes. "They sent this to Najaf, which is good. As long as it is supporting victims," al-Rawi said. "They sent it to people who are in need." In Samarrah, northwest of Baghdad, where an undetermined number of people previously fled fighting between US troops and insurgents, it appears things are getting back to normal, al-Rawi said. Getting basic services such as rubbish removal and water to Sadr City is expected to be a political issue in the coming election, a US diplomat told IRIN, declining to be named. An estimated 2 million people live there, out of the estimated 27 million people in Iraq, he noted. "There is a revived focus on Sadr City and its problems," the diplomat said. "You can analyse this as a precursor of elections, if you want. Sadr City is a huge voting block." However, Al-Jawahii, the doctor, laughed when asked how an election might affect the grim conditions in Sadr City. An interim government has said it will follow a plan to hold a parliamentary election no later than January 2005. "Elections will be postponed here. I'm sure of it," al-Jawahii said. "The idea here is not elections but how many Islamic organisations are helping people here. They want to provide medicine, blankets. This is the important thing."