Portal:Current events/2004 August 18

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• In a statement issued from his Baghdad office, Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agrees to order his militia to leave the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, Iraq, after threats by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's government to "liberate" it. Al-Sadr further agrees to disband his Jaish-i-Mahdi militia, and enter the "mainstream political process". It remains unclear when the withdrawal will actually take place. [http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/18/iraq.main/index.html (CNN)] [https://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6009166 (Reuters)] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20040819183951/http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6009166 |date=2004-08-19 }}
• The government of Colombia announces that it offered, in July, to trade 50 imprisoned guerrillas in return for hostages being held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3578532.stm (BBC)]
• In Dublin, Ireland the Dublin Port Tunnel excavation works were completed and the final tunnel boring machine breakthrough ceremony took place.

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