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Bid for peace underway as clashes continue in Iraq. 11/04/2004. ABC News Online
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Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has been given a draft cease-fire plan. (ABC) |
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Bid for peace underway as clashes continue in Iraq
Iraq's Governing Council has launched peace initiatives with key insurgent groups as clashes with coalition troops continue across the country.
There is mixed news for foreign hostages.
One rebel group has promised to release three Japanese hostages, however other kidnappers are now threatening to execute an American captured in an assualt on a convoy on Friday.
In a key development, members of Iraq's Governing Council have held talks with the outlawed Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and given him a draft cease-fire plan.
It is unclear how much support the negotiators, led by Karim al-Mahamadawi, a member of the interim Governing Council, has from the coalition.
Mr Mahamadawi suspended his membership of the council on Friday in protest at the way the US has dealt with the twin crises of Fallujah and the Shiite uprising.
The deal being offered to Sadr calls for the disbanding of his private army, their withdrawal from public buildings and the return of public order.
In return, the militias would be allowed to go home peacefully and a murder charge against Sadr would be referred to a Shiite religious court.
Heavy fighting
Meanwhile, there has been heavy fighting in other areas of Iraq.
Clashes continued in several districts of Baghdad during the day with prolonged clashes north of the capital.
Eleven Iraqis, including a policeman, were killed and 35 wounded in confrontations around Baquba.
In the north-west of the Baghdad, gunmen with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades roamed the streets, launching hit and run attacks on American patrols.
Strikes have also continued on American convoys on the western outskirts of the city, with burnt out vehicles littering the roads.
Further south, American helicopter gunships bombarded insurgent positions outside the town of Kut.
American military officials now say they control 70 per cent of the city.
Speaking from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, US President George W Bush says the planned handover of power to an Iraqi administration will keep to schedule despite the opposition of the insurgents.
"They want America or the coalition to falter in their commitments before a watching world. In these ambitions, the enemies of freedom will fail. Iraqi sovereignty will arrive on June 30th," he said.
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