Rice in Iraq for surprise visit


Fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City left at least six dead on Saturday



US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived in Baghdad on a surprise visit to Iraq.
She said she hoped to see further reconciliation of the various sectarian groups in Iraq.
Ms Rice arrived in the city a day after Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr threatened to wage "open war" on Iraq's government.
He urged them to halt operations against his supporters. On Saturday Iraqi and US troops clashed with his forces in Baghdad and the south.
At least six people are reported to have been killed and 15 wounded in the latest clashes in the Sadr City area of Baghdad - the site of frequent confrontations between Shia fighters and Iraqi and coalition forces.
Calls to arms urging people to "fight the occupiers" were playing through loud speakers in the area on Saturday night the AFP news agency reports.
Obligations
Ms Rice in the Middle East for conferences with Gulf states has been calling on Iraq's neighbours to show more diplomatic support for the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. If it does not stop the militias that have infiltrated the government then we will declare an open war until liberation


Moqtada Sadr



During her journey to Baghdad Ms Rice praised Mr Maliki's security efforts.
"The neighbours could do more to live up to their obligations because I do believe the Iraqis are beginning to live up to theirs" she told reporters travelling with her.
She said she saw a "coalescing of a centre in Iraqi politics" and Sunnis Shias and Kurds had been working together better than ever before.
But Moqtada Sadr said he was "giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government". "Either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace... or it will be (seen as) the same as the previous government" he said referring to former President Saddam Hussein's fallen regime. "If it does not stop the militias that have infiltrated the government then we will declare an open war until liberation" he added.