(AFP) – Sep 17, 2007

BAGHDAD (AFP) — The Shiite bloc that leads the Iraqi government urged the political movement of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday to reverse its decision to quit the bloc, saying national unity is at stake.

"We call on our brothers in the Sadr movement to review their decision," the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) said in statement.

"We underline the need for unity between Iraq's political forces whether inside or outside the coalition," it said.

Liwa Sumaysim, head of the political committee of the Sadr group, announced on Saturday that the movement was withdrawing its 32 MPs from the UIA, leaving Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition in control of only about half the seats in parliament.

The UIA said it had been "astonished by the withdrawal" as it came "contrary to dialogue and discussions with them inside the alliance."

The Shiite alliance, it added, had formed a committee to negotiate with the Sadr movement to try to persuade it to reverse its decision.

Sumaysim has stressed that Sadr's movement is not planning to unseat the premier.

"We have absolutely no intention of pushing Prime Minister Maliki out," Sumaysim told AFP from his headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Sunday.

"Our protest was about the attitude of the Shiite alliance in which they rejected our demands," he said.

Other Sadr officials have complained that Maliki stopped consulting them over decisions and ordered an inquiry into the movement's Mahdi Army militia, widely blamed for violence during a Shiite pilgrimage in the shrine city of Karbala last month that killed 52 people.

The UIA initially comprised four key Shiite factions -- the Sadr group, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), Maliki's Dawa party and the Fadhila party -- and held 130 of the 275 seats in parliament.

However, the number dropped to 115 when the Fadhila party pulled out in March. The Sadr bloc has 32 seats in parliament.

Maliki's government can now count on the support of only 136 MPs, including 53 from two Kurdish groups.

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