BAGHDAD, Aug 30 (AFP) - Talks between the Iraqi government and the office of radical Shite cleric Moqtada Sadr aimed at ending violence in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City were stumbling on the fate of the Mehdi Army's weapons, police said Monday.
Sadr City police chief Colonel Maaruf Alami told AFP a ten-point roadmap drafted by National Security Adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaie had been delivered to Sadr's office Monday.
"The talks are stumbling on the final point" which urges the rebel militia to hand over its weapons, Alami said.
The document calls for a seven-day truce, states that US troops should stop cracking down on Sadr's militia and enter the sprawling flashpoint neighbourhood only for reconstruction purposes.
It also demands that the Mehdi Army stop attacking US bases, as well as Iraqi security forces and translators.
The ten points also include a commitment to rebuild the impoverished neighbourhood and compensate residents who have been affected by months of fighting and adds that the Iraqi police will be responsible for conducting patrols in the area.
The letter was handed to the head of the firebrand cleric's Sadr City office, Sheikh Yusif al-Nasir.
The talks come three days after the end of a bloody standoff between the Mehdi Army and US troops in the holy city of Najaf.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has vowed to crush any militiamen who refuse to disarm after top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani secured the withdrawal of Sadr's fighters from the central shrine towns of Najaf and Kufa.
But fighters left Najaf Friday without handing over their weapons, only hiding them in caches.
The militant stronghold was quiet on Monday morning.