NAJAF, Iraq, Aug 8 (AFP) - Radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr is ready to negotiate a truce to end four days of fighting between his militia and US-backed Iraqi police, a spokesman said Sunday.
Sheikh Ahmed Shaibani told a Najaf news conference that Sadr was ready to negotiate and agree to a truce, but specified no timeframe for peace talks.
He also denounced an amnesty announced Saturday and held out to members of Sadr's Mehdi Army by Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, because it was meant to cover "criminals and bandits".
"We are neither one nor the other. We are a patriotic and Muslim movement," he said.
During a surprise visit by Allawi earlier to the Shiite holy city of Najaf in central Iraq, the premier urged militiamen still holed up in the city to leave.
"How can Mehdi Army fighters leave their city, their district? You can see (how well) they get on with the residents," he said.
Asked about Allawi's invitation to Sadr to run in general elections scheduled for January 2005, Shaibani was dismissive.
"It's nothing to do with him. It's only our business. We will not participate either in the elections or in the national conference," he said, referring to an upcoming conference to discuss Iraq's political future.
Sadr had agreed to a truce in early June following two months of fighting with US-led coalition forces in Baghdad and central Iraq that left hundreds dead.
The truce failed to resolve the issue of the fate of his militia and the arrest warrant that was issued against him in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last year.
Before unraveling this week, the truce held up apart from sporadic skirmishes between the militia and Iraqi security forces.