NAJAF, Iraq, Aug 13 (AFP) - A ceasefire held Friday in Iraq's city of Najaf to allow for peace talks between Shiite militiamen and the government after more than a week of clashes, a spokesman for rebel leader Moqtada Sadr said.
The open-ended ceasefire was to allow time for negotiations to end the showdown between Sadr's Mehdi Army and a joint Iraqi-US force, Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani told reporters.
Talks are taking place between the "occupation forces", Iraqi security troops, the government's pointman on security, Muwafaq al-Rubaie, and close Sadr aide Sheikh Ali al-Sumeisim, he added.
Earlier on Friday, Sadr, with his hand bandaged from an injury, addressed his Mehdi Army militia fighters for about 15 minutes at the Imam Ali shrine in central Najaf, Shaibani said.
Any agreement must be signed by the Mehdi Army, the Iraqi government and the occupation forces, he added.
A June truce, which quelled Sadr's spring uprising against foreign troops, had not been signed by the American forces, inviting them to violate the agreement whenever they felt like it, the spokesman added.
Sadr also wants Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq's majority Shiite population to create a force that will protect the city.
"If they refuse, authority will remain with the Mehdi Army," Shaibani said, specifying that the truce was only for Najaf and did not apply to any other provinces.
"May be this truce is a trick, so I want you to keep to your jihad," Shaibani said on behalf of Sadr, addressing himself to all Iraqi provinces.
The cleric wanted a definite end to the lingering foreign occupation of Iraq and called on the government of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to resign in the wake of mass rejection of the US-backed administration.
Outside in the shrine area, about 200 fighers shouted "No, no to Allawi," "(US President George W.) Bush when will you go".
"Moqtada is our leader and we will never accept another one" and "Moqtada, shake America," they chanted.
He called on the Hawza (Iraq's top Shiite religious authority) to work towards establishing a new army independent from foreign forces, incorporating troops from the former Iraqi army, the Badr Brigades and the Kurdish peshmerga.