BAGHDAD, Aug 15 (AFP) - A national conference, billed as a first experiment in post-Saddam Hussein democracy, was to begin Sunday as 1,300 delegates from across Iraq were expected to gather in Baghdad amid massive security.
Blocked roads, concrete barricades, tanks and sniffer dogs greeted the participants arriving at the convention centre inside the fortified Green Zone which houses the seat of the interim government and the US embassy.
Two main roads leading to the venue were blocked with police cars. US helicopters criss-crossed the skies of Baghdad from the early hours and the Al-Jumhuriya (republic) bridge spanning the Tigris river was shut.
An 8:00 am (0400 GMT) to 4:00 pm (1200 GMT) curfew has been slapped on the old Karkh and Sheikh Marouf neighbourhoods adjacent to the Green Zone for the duration of the event, expected to last until Monday or Tuesday.
The neighbourhoods are known trouble spots that have seen clashes in recent days between US troops and insurgents.
Delegates from political parties, civic and religious organisations are to appoint a national council to have limited legislative powers and advise the interim government as it paves the way for national elections in January 2005.
Some 25 percent of participants were expected to be women, who outnumber men in a population ravaged by a string of wars under the former regime.
The conference will first hold working sessions to discuss the transition process, human rights, reconstruction and the issue of justice for those who suffered under Saddam's dictatorship.
On the last day, delegates will vote for 81 members of the national council. The other 19 seats have already been allocated to members of the defunct interim Governing Council, that served between Saddam's fall and the creation of the caretaker government in early June.
But both radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr and the influential Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars have announced their decision to boycott the event, dismissing it as unrepresentative of the true will of the Iraqi people.
Indeed, the conference was due to open with the interim government poised to resume a US-led offensive on Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in the holy city of Najaf after peace talks broke down Saturday.
The conflict, which flared 11 days ago, had led to concerns that the event would be cancelled, or at least overshadowed by the fighting.
Chief organiser Fuad Maasum again invited Sadr's movement to attend the conference, although the cleric has previously rejected the invitation.
"We did not want to put Sayed Moqtada in an uncomfortable position by inviting him personally, but the invitation is open to his movement," Maasum said.
The fiery cleric earlier told Al-Jazeera television that "the war on Najaf" had been launched because he had stood up for people's rights, demanded the restoration of services and refused to take part in the conference.
"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," he said.
Najaf's old city, site of the shrine of Imam Ali, one of Shiite Islam's holiest, remains under Mehdi Army control.
Sadr has insisted that the US-led forces withdraw and responsibility for Najaf be handed over to the Shiite religious leadership.
"The Iraqi government will be responsible for the coming massacre in Najaf. Tanks and convoys are preparing to attack the city in the coming hours," said Sadr spokesman, Sheikh Qais al-Khazali.