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"Al-Sadr sets conditions for Najaf truce"
Posted by Habibi (Guest) - Friday, August 13 2004, 19:33:52 (CEST)
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Al-Sadr sets conditions for Najaf truce
Friday 13 August 2004, 19:42 Makka Time, 16:42 GMT

Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr laid down a list of conditions for an end to clashes between his Mahdi Army and US-led occupation forces, according to a spokesman.

Shaikh Ali Sumaisim spelled out the conditions on Friday - notably for the withdrawal of the US-led forces and the handover of Najaf to the Marjaia, the Shia religious authority - during a news conference at a hotel in the besieged city in central Iraq.

If all multinational forces, Iraqi police and soldiers leave Najaf and the Marjaia agrees to take responsibility for the city, "the Mahdi Army would pull out from Najaf", Sumaisim said, while stressing the militia would not disarm.

All basic services must be restored in Najaf, and al-Sadr's Mahdi Army should be recognised as an ideological movement with its members allowed to carry weapons for self-defence, Sumaisim continued.

Those jailed for supporting the resistance against the US-led occupation, all imprisoned clerics and women must also be released, the spokesman added.

Recognition

Resistance fighters must no longer be persecuted and al-Sadr's organisation should be allowed to decide for itself whether it becomes a political movement, under the conditions.

"All followers of al-Sadr's movement should be under a legitimate constitution written by a free, elected government," Sumaisim said.

"Lastly, all efforts should be aimed at building a free, independent, unified Iraq," he added.

Meanwhile, a Mahdi Army leader described al-Sadr's health as satisfactory after he was lightly injured early Friday after US forces bombarded the area.

-AFP



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