Rice in Iraq after Sadr's "open war" threat

Underscoring the threat of widening violence, the U.S. military said it killed 20 militiamen overnight in clashes in the cleric's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City. A military spokesman called it the capital's "hottest night" in weeks.

Arriving on an unannounced visit, Rice said she wanted to support what she called a new political "center" in Iraq that has backed Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's crackdown on Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.

"You have seen a coalescing of a center in Iraqi politics in which the Sunni leadership, the Kurdish leadership and the elements of the Shia leadership that are not associated with these special groups have been working together better than at any time before," Rice told reporters travelling with her. "I would like just to see what we can do to promote that kind of centre that I think is clearly coming together."

Washington uses the term special groups to describe rogue elements of the Mehdi Army that it says are armed, trained and funded by Iran. Tehran denies the charge.

Rice, who went straight into a meeting with Maliki, arrived a day after Sadr threatened an uprising against the U.S.-backed government if it did not halt attacks on his followers. The populist anti-American cleric launched two uprisings in 2004.

A rebellion by the Mehdi Army militia -- which has tens of thousands of fighters -- could abruptly end a period of lower violence at a time when U.S. forces are starting to leave Iraq.

Rice did not have any immediate comment on Sadr's threat, but added that in general it was difficult to "get a read of what his motivations are and what his intentions are".

"The issue of Sadr is an internal Iraqi matter to resolve at this point. But clearly the prime minister has laid down some ground rules which any functioning democratic state would insist upon, having to do with arms belonging to the state, not in private hands," she said.

Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadr's followers late last month that has led to the worst fighting in Iraq in nearly a year. The crackdown has been backed by all parties across Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divide except the Sadrist movement.

Rice applauded Maliki's efforts to tackle militias but conceded it had been tough. U.S. commanders say the initial operation in the southern city of Basra was badly planned. "It has not been the smoothest of processes but it is an important step that the Iraqi government has taken," she said.

Sadr's threat could not come at a worse time. On Friday, U.S. forces said they had intelligence suggesting Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, pushed out of Baghdad and western Iraq last year, was plotting a return to the capital to stage major bomb attacks.

STRONGER TIES AND DEBT RELIEF

Rice said she hoped a conference of Iraq's neighbors on Tuesday in Kuwait would lead to progress on debt relief by Arab nations, and that states such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain would meet their promises to open embassies in Baghdad. Â

Since the first two neighbors' meetings in Istanbul and Egypt last year, Rice said Iraq had passed some important laws and Iraq's army had tried to curb the militias.

"This meeting is going to have to take note of that," Rice told reporters before a refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland, on her way to Bahrain and Kuwait. "I think it is fair to say that Iraq’s neighbors could do more to live up to their obligations because I do believe the Iraqis are beginning to live up to theirs," she added.

Rice will press her point further in face-to-face talks with her Arab counterparts in both Bahrain on Monday and Kuwait on Tuesday.

"A number of people at this meeting will have done debt relief. Well, Iraq's neighbors ought to do that debt relief. The debt relief has come from the Paris Club, not from Iraq's neighbors," she was quoted as saying by Reuters.

About $66.5 billion of Iraq's debt has been forgiven, with the bulk by the Paris Club members, according to State Department estimates this month. Of the $56 to $80 billion of the estimated remaining debt, more than half is owed to Gulf countries, the department said.