Ahmed al-Obeidi, a graduate of Baghdad's Music Institute, has been playing the drum (known here as the tabla) for 27 years.

NPR: In Baghdad, a Rare Musical Performance

One of Mr Sadr's top men, Salah al-Obeidi, said that a criminal gun-running network that has operated in the region for years probably acquired the arms.

ECONOMIST: Iraq, Iran and the United States

During the four-day cease-fire, the government will reopen all entrances to Sadr City, allowing necessary aid to flow in and the wounded to be evacuated, al-Obeidi said.

CNN: Iraqi government, al-Sadr group sign cease-fire

Mahdi Obeidi, who used to run Iraq's covert uranium enrichment programme and had been famously ordered to hide the plans under a tree in his garden, concurs.

ECONOMIST: But there was still plenty going on that shouldn't have been

Disbanding al-Sadr's Mehdi army was not even discussed, al-Obeidi said.

CNN: Iraqi government, al-Sadr group sign cease-fire

Ahmed al-Obeidi carries his drum in an empty flour sack.

NPR: In Baghdad, a Rare Musical Performance

El Obeidi also said that extremist militia in Libya were financing militant groups in Mali and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb as well as providing them with logistical support.

CNN: Algeria attack may have link to Libya camps

El Obeidi said that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb treated the whole region as one theater and was oblivious to the desert borders that divided the countries of the Sahel.

CNN: Algeria attack may have link to Libya camps

Iraqi forces will also be on the district's streets, conducting searches and raids to detain wanted individuals, according to al-Obeidi, and he warned that according to the agreement, the government will punish the security forces if they violate residents' rights in the process.

CNN: Iraqi government, al-Sadr group sign cease-fire