by Ahmed Fadaam
NAJAF, Iraq, Aug 27 (AFP) - Rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr on Friday renounced control of his shrine stronghold to Iraq's top Shiite cleric following a deal with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to end three weeks of fighting in Najaf.
But his Mehdi Army refused to surrender their weapons to Iraqi authorities, defying one of three conditions laid down by the Iraqi government for halting its fierce US-led assault on the militia.
The Imam Ali shrine transfer was concluded at 1:30 pm (0930 GMT), a week after Sadr aides first indicated they would give up the keys to what is one of Shiite Islam's holiest pilgrimage centres to Sistani.
"Moqtada Sadr has officially handed over control of the shrine to Marjaiya," Sheikh Hassan al-Husseini, one of 12 delegates from Sistani's office told AFP at the complex, four months after the rebel cleric's fighters took over the shrine.
In addition to handing in its weapons, the government had called on the Mehdi Army to quit its mosque stronghold and turn itself in a political movement.
A document formally attesting to the handover was signed by Sadr spokesman Sheikh Ahmed Shaibani and the head of Sistani's Beirut office, Ahmed Khaffaf, before everyone left the compound and the key was given to Khaffaf.
It was announced late Thursday that Sadr had agreed to five demands spelt out by Sistani: namely for all armed elements to disarm and leave Najaf and its twin city of Kufa, for police to restore security and for all US troops to withdraw.
Tanks were still parked in Najaf's vast cemetery and US snipers were still able to shoot across the eastern gate of the mausoleum in the morning.
Sistani, greeted by a raptous welcome after returning from medical treatment in London, was granted a 24-hour truce by Baghdad and the US military to negotiate an end to the conflict between the Mehdi Army and US-led Iraqi troops.
But on the streets of Najaf, devastated by more than three weeks of fierce fighting pitting US-led Iraqi government troops against the Mehdi Army, militiamen defiantly refused to give up their weapons to police or the military.
Instead, fighters carried Kalashnikovs in plastic bags to take them home, while others wrapped mortar and rocket-propelled grenade launchers in canvas before secreting them away in safe houses in the Old City.
"They will hide their weapons but will not hand them over to the police or to the army," Shaibani told AFP.
"The Americans thought that they could exterminate the Mehdi Army, but our fighters are still here. They will be able to go back to their work whilst remaining an army," he added.
After a deal in June that ended Sadr's first uprising against US-led troops, militiamen hid their weapons. Fighting broke out again two months later.
The Najaf peace followed a deadly day in Kufa, where a double mortar attack and shooting at a demonstration left 74 people dead and more than 350 wounded.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has repeatedly urged the Mehdi Army to take advantage of a 30-day amnesty to hand over arms and escape prosecution. He has also promised a "safe passage" for Sadr if he disarmed and quit the shrine.
A senior government official repeated there was no place in Iraq for militias with hoards of weapons hidden away from prying eyes, leaving open the question of how long the truce could last.
"They have to give up their weapons. That has always been the case. We have to rid this country of militias. But I really to think its too early to comment. This is a promising start," he told AFP.
"What's clear is that all the weapons will remain in control of the Mehdi Army," said Hassan, who had just disposed of his arsenal. "We are ready to take them back if the situation deteriorates."
But the grisly execution of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who went missing on his way to the central holy city a week ago, by his Islamist kidnappers cast a pall over the tentative peace.
The so-called Islamic Army in Iraq shot him after Rome refused to haul its soldiers out of the country within 48 hours, Al-Jazeera television reported.
In a message of condolence to the journalist's wife and two children, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi slammed the death for returning us "to the dark times of barbarism".
In the northern city of Mosul on Friday, at least 10 Iraqis, including two children, and a US soldier were wounded when a car bomb blew up in the path of a US military convoy.