BAGHDAD, Aug 16 (AFP) - Iraq's national conference Monday decided to send a delegation to urge radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr to withdraw his fighters from the holy city of Najaf and turn his Mehdi Army into a political party.
Participants approved by a show of hands the proposal put forward by a relative of Sadr, Baghdad Shiite cleric Sheikh Hussein al-Sadr, who told the conference: "There are inviolable conditions in civilised countries, particularly that there is no place for armed militias."
"We must work together to convince Moqtada Sadr and the dear brothers in the Mehdi Army to transform (their militia) into a political party whatever its leaning," he added.
"I suggest you appeal urgently to Moqtada Sadr as we did yesterday to the Iraqi government and draw up a three-point resolution that everyone can agree with.
"Firstly, that the Mehdi Army withdraw from the shrine, that (they) renounce weapons and become a political party," he added.
The text was approved by a show of hands, but certain Sadr sympathisers complained against the method of voting and one of them said he would leave the conference.
Khodair al-Abbas, from the Shiite Dawa party of Vice President Ibrahim Jafaari, said his party fully supported the initiative and that a delegation from the national conference was being selected to deliver it to Sadr.
In Najaf, a spokesman for the cleric, Sheikh Ahmed Shaibani, said the question of the militia laying down arms and become a political organisation can only be solved by "negotiations and not a unilateral decision".
"We can come to an agreement on this through negotiations. We are ready to defend ourselves as we are ready for peace," he told AFP.
A two-day truce between the Mehdi Army and US-led Iraqi government forces disintegrated into fresh violence Sunday after peace talks failed.