BAGHDAD, Oct. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Over the past weeks, Iraq's interim government and US forces have exerted various efforts in a bid to restore peace to the violence-wracked country in the run-up to the scheduled January 2005 elections.

   The efforts included peace deal with rebel militia and heavy-handed military attack against insurgency.

   The government announced Sunday that Shiite militia in the capital's Sadr City would be granted five days to disarm.   National Security Adviser Qassim Dawoud said Iraqi police and the National Guards would take charge of the disarming process from Monday.

   Abdul al-Hadi al-Daraji, the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's top representative in Baghdad, said Saturday that Sadr agreed to partially hand in weapons in a bid to end weeks-long skirmishes with US and Iraqi forces.

   "We have signed an agreement with the Iraqi government to disarm the Mehdi Army in Sadr City and the process will start on Monday," said al-Daraji.

   The proposal by Sadr's militia came after they secured promises from US troops to stop bombarding the slum, a Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad.

   Dawoud said the government would commit more than 500 million US dollar to rebuild the violence-wracked neighborhood.   Militia, especially Sadr's aides who were currently detained by the authority, would also be released and the government agreed not to go after them, said Daraji.

   Meanwhile, intensive military campaigns designed to wrestle back controls of areas from insurgent hands were also underway.

   Both the flashpoint city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, and Samarra, some 120 km north of the capital, have witnessed some most fierce fighting between rebels and US-Iraqi forces, leaving hundred dead and thousand others wounded.

   Take Samarra as an example, the US offensive in the town have killed 110 people and wounded over 180 others.

   After these attacks, Washington indicated that the US administration has ordered to attack 30 other rebel-held cities.   The attack on rebellious cities also served as deterrent to other insurgents, warning that they would confront the same fate if they carried on with resistance.

   The government and Fallujah rebels were now close to striking an agreement, following days of heavy US bombing on the city.

   Sheih Khalid Al Jumaily, head of the negotiating delegation of Fallujah residents, said the agreement was focused on several points and there were guarantees on both sides not to fall back on clashes.

   He said under the agreement, the US forces would stay out of the city and the Iraqi national guardsmen would take the security responsibility.

   In another development, people in Sadr City and Fallujah indicated that they might take part in the elections.

   Despite all these achievement toward peace, the worrying question still remained that whether all these efforts could last till the elections were held.  Enditem