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Al-Sadr Accepts Plan to End Najaf Fighting

Posted on: Wednesday, 18 August 2004, 06:00 CDT

NAJAF, Iraq - Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accepted a peace plan Wednesday for Najaf that would disarm his militiamen and remove them from a holy shrine where they are hiding out, according to a spokesman. However, Al-Sadr wanted to negotiate how the deal would be implemented.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad, the Iraqi National Conference picked 81 members of a National Council that will act as a watchdog on the interim Iraqi government until January elections. Instead of voting on the 81 as planned, conference delegates approved a candidate list after a competing list was withdrawn.

The cleric's decision came just hours after Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan said the government was prepared to raid the revered Imam Ali shrine as early as Wednesday to root out the militants.

The agreement could spell the end of the two-week resurgence of violence in this holy city that enraged many of the country's majority Shiites and posed the greatest test yet for the fledgling government of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

The cease-fire deal was presented to al-Sadr's aides in Najaf on Tuesday by an eight-person delegation sent by the Iraqi National Conference, meeting in Baghdad. Al-Sadr himself declined to meet with the mediators. The proposal demanded the cleric's militia drop its arms, withdraw from the shrine and transform itself into a political party in exchange for amnesty.

Sheik Hassan al-Athari, an official at al-Sadr's office in Baghdad, said the cleric had agreed to the plan but wanted the delegation to return to Najaf to negotiate how it would be implemented and to ensure his militants would not be arrested. He said al-Sadr had other minor conditions but did not elaborate.

Al-Sadr has made contradictory statements in the past, and a previous cease-fire with his Mahdi Army militia that ended a spring uprising two months ago collapsed into street battles throughout Najaf on Aug. 5.

Clashes marked by gunfire and explosions continued in Najaf even after the agreement was announced Wednesday. Fighting in Najaf has killed six people and wounded 23 others since Tuesday morning, Hussein Hadi of Najaf General Hospital said Wednesday.

The U.S. military says the fighting in Najaf has killed hundreds of militants, though the militants deny that. Eight U.S. soldiers and at least 40 Iraqi police have been killed as well.

The fighting in Najaf, especially near the shrine, has angered many among the country's majority Shiite population and cast a pall over the conference in Baghdad - intended to project an image of amity and inclusiveness on the road to democracy.

Allawi issued a statement at the conference accusing the militants of having mined the area around the Imam Ali compound.

The conference was extended a fourth day into Wednesday because of disagreements over how to elect a National Council: Smaller groups had argued they would not have enough of a voice.

Originally, the gathering of more than 1,000 religious, political and civic leaders was to vote on one slate of candidates, which would have had to garner 65 percent to become part of the new council. Faced with the complaints from smaller parties, organizers decided to let several lists compete.

By Wednesday evening, delegates had gathered to choose between two candidate lists, but one was suddenly withdrawn. Without voting on the remaining slate, conference organizers declared it the winner.

The organizers said they had consulted with their legal advisers and U.N. representatives before declaring the winning slate of 81. The final 19 seats of the 100-member body will be filled by members of the former U.S.-appointed Governing Council who were not included in the interim government.

As the delegates met Wednesday afternoon, a mortar round hit the roof of Iraq's Foreign Ministry building nearby, causing no damage or injuries, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told The Associated Press.

The blast shook the convention center where the conference was held inside the heavily fortified Green Zone enclave, which is home to Iraqi government offices and the U.S. Embassy. Zebari said he believed the Green Zone was the target.

With Najaf fighting threatening to overshadow the conference, delegates sent a peace mission on Tuesday to try to solve the crisis. The cleric's refusal to meet with them - his aides said it was too dangerous for him to leave his secret hideout - displeased the visitors.

"If there were anyone sympathizing with him in the past, there will be none from now on because of this stand," delegate Abdul-Halim al-Ruhaimi said earlier Wednesday.

In threatening to raid the shrine, Shaalan said Iraqi forces were trained to oust militants from the holy site, and that U.S. forces would not enter the compound. Any American action against the shrine would almost certainly enrage Iraq's Shiite majority.

In other developments:

-A mortar round slammed into a busy market in the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, killing at least six civilians and wounding 23, the U.S. military and hospitals said.

-One U.S. soldier was shot and killed during an ambush as troops patrolled Baghdad, the military said.

-Near Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, seven coalition soldiers were injured during a mortar attack on their camp, the military said. The wounded included two Polish soldiers and five civilians - one American, one Pole and three Iraqis.

-In volatile Anbar Province, a Marine with the 1st Expeditionary Force was killed Tuesday during "security and stability operations," the military reported. In Basra, one British soldier and one militant were reported killed in fighting.

-Several mortar rounds were fired Wednesday at the headquarters of the Polish-led multinational force, and seven people were injured, a military spokesman said.

-An Iraqi working for German ZDF television was killed west of the Iraqi capital, the station's chief producer in Baghdad said Wednesday. Mahmoud Hamid Abbas, a local producer for the station, was found dead Sunday near Fallujah.

-Turkey Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said one of two Turkish truck drivers kidnapped over the weekend in Iraq has been rescued and was returning home. Mustafa Koksal was abducted Saturday near Mosul after delivering bottled water to a U.S. base in Baghdad. There was no word on the fate of the other driver.

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Associated Press reporter Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad contributed to this report.

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