Home > Sadr invited to Iraq’s national conference
Shiite Muslim firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has been invited to the July political conference to select a national council that will advise Iraq’s interim government, an Iraqi official has said.
"An invitation has been sent to Moqtada al-Sadr," said Fuad Maasum, the chairman of the committee preparing the conference.
"Moqtada al-Sadr has begun to transform his militia into a political organisation, which is considered a positive step and his movement has roots in the country," Mr Maasum said.
The fundamentalist preacher led a two-and-a-half month revolt against US forces in central and southern Iraq.
Mr Maasum added that 1,000 people would be invited to the conference, which aims to have representatives of political movements, tribes and regions from across Iraq to select the country’s 100 member interim national council.
The council will serve until January elections and have the power to approve the nation’s 2005 Budget, veto legislation with a two thirds majority, call ministers in for questioning over policy and pick a new president, or deputy president, if one dies in office.
The US-led coalition has previously called for Sadr to stand trial before an Iraqi court for alleged involvement in the murder of a pro-US cleric in April 2003 in the holy city of Najaf.
US officials have retreated from initial demands in April that Sadr "be killed or captured" and now refer to his trial as an internal Iraqi matter.
The young cleric signalled more than a week ago his willingness to accept the new government and his aides said Sadr’s followers were now organising a political party.
It was not clear if Sadr would accept the invitation but his participation sidesteps a new anti-militia decree passed two weeks ago that bans figures from entering politics unless they have been out of their militia for three years.
UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, charged by the US-led coalition to oversee the selection of the new government, said on June 2 the conference would serve as a major step toward ending the nation’s deep rifts.
Mr Brahimi argued strongly that those figures who support the insurgency but have not picked up weapons should have a seat at the table.