NAJAF, Iraq, Aug 14 (AFP) - Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr said Saturday that the Iraqi people wanted the US-backed caretaker government of Iyad Allawi to resign and insisted he would not take up any post under US occupation.
"The resignation of the Iraqi government appointed by the occupation (forces) is a popular demand. The people reject it, and I am therefore bound to reject it too, since I speak on their behalf ... and I am one of them," the rebel cleric told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news channel.
Al-Jazeera, which aired excerpts of the interview with Sadr, said the Shiite militia leader made his remarks before national security advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie announced the breakdown of truce talks in the central holy city of Najaf.
Sadr said "the war on Najaf" had been launched because he had stood up for the Iraqi people's rights, demanding the restoration of services, and because he had refused to take part in a national conference opening Sunday.
"Had I agreed to participate and not pressed for the people's rights, they would not have done that, and they would not have targeted me and targeted the Shiites," he said.
"But no -- I will never take up any post so long as the occupation is there. There can be no politics under occupation, no freedom under occupation, no democracy under occupation," Sadr said.
"Let the occupation (forces) get out and ... the Iraqi people are capable of governing Iraq. There will be no civil war" as the United States claims there would be in the absence of multinational forces, he said.
More than a week of fighting between Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and US-backed Iraqi forces had stopped on Friday to pave the way for the ill-fated truce talks in Najaf.