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Militia Offers to Cede Control of Shrine
A rebel cleric's militiamen kept their guns outside a holy site Friday after issuing a surprise offer to give up control of the Imam Ali Shrine to Shiite Muslim religious leaders, but negotiators wrangled into the night over getting the militants out of the compound. The removal of weapons and pledge to hand over keys to religious authorities was seen as a big step toward a resolution of the two-week faceoff in Najaf that has killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds in fighting between Muqtada al-Sadr's militia and a joint U.S.-Iraq force. Offering a face-saving way out of the crisis, a peaceful pullout mediated by religious authorities would allow Iraq's interim government to keep its pledge not to negotiate and let the militants say they had not capitulated to U.S.-led troops.
The development came just a day after al-Sadr's militants rejected a government ultimatum to withdraw from the shrine or face an assault on the walled compound. Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi backed off the threat after the new offer from al-Sadr, and his national security adviser reiterated that the government wanted al-Sadr to join the political process. Al-Sadr has said previously he would not give in to the government demand to disband his militia and take up politics. It remained unclear how the government would react if that demand went unmet.
Posted by: Fred 2004-08-21 |
