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Sadr offers peace deal in return for
NAJAF : Rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr offered to end his insurgency in Iraq if the US-led coalition agreed to negotiations, according to leaflets handed out by his office in Najaf."I am ready to end everything if the occupation forces officially ask for negotiations on condition that these negotiations are just and transparent and under the stewardship of the Shiite religious authorities," according to a statement signed by him on Tuesday.
Sadr's Mehdi Army militia has suffered heavy losses during battles with the US-led military during fighting in the capital Baghdad and in southern Shiite cities.
Sadr is wanted by the US military in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last year. He has been holed up in the holy Shiite city of Najaf for more than a month where he has issued a series of dire threats against the US forces. "If I accept or don't accept negotiations, they (the US) are the ones who are escalating the situation and who don't want peace," said the statement.
"The calls for the Mehdi Army to leave Najaf and other cities are on the order of the biggest villain of them all, (US President George W.) Bush," according to the statement being handed out by supporters outside his office in Najaf.
The offer followed a demand by the new provincial governor of Najaf, Adnan al-Zorfi, that Sadr disband his militia. Zorfi also announced he was seeking 4,000 new members of the paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defense Corps to keep the peace in the city. Posted by: Steve 2004-05-11 |
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