IRAQ: A rebel Shia Muslim militia led by Moqtada al-Sadr pledged yesterday to disarm in what could be a major advance for US-Iraqi efforts to calm violence in Iraq ahead of elections due in January.
The proposal, which meets a key demand of the interim government, was announced by Mr Ali Smeism, a top al-Sadr adviser, on Arabic al-Arabiya television. It followed the release of a pro-al-Sadr cleric from US detention in Abu Ghraib jail.
Mr Smeism said that in return for any weapons surrender, the government must guarantee that al-Sadr's followers are not "persecuted", and the US military must free more of his aides.
He said the proposed deal focused on militiamen holed up in the Baghdad slum district of Sadr City, a hotbed of anti-US activity, but could be extended to other "areas of tension".
Talks are also under way to defuse a standoff with insurgents controlling the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Falluja.
Soon after Mr Smeism's announcement, insurgents delivered a noisy reminder of their presence, sending at least two rockets crashing into central Baghdad's Sheraton Hotel.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the blasts, but panicked guests fled from the hotel, where the lobby was littered with shattered glass and rubble. Iraqi police sealed off the heavily fortified complex which houses the Sheraton and adjacent Palestine Hotel, where scores of foreign contractors and journalists are based. Police found a truck used to launch the rockets, identified as Russian-made Katyushas, about 500 metres away.
The Interim Prime Minister, Mr Iyad Allawi said that although some mistakes had been made in the post-Saddam management of Iraq, there was now progress.
"Terrorists took advantage of the mistakes that were committed and came to Iraq to inflict damage on the Iraqi people and to stop the political process from \. This is something that is expected after the vacuum that occurred in Iraq. We are again making headway and we are making successes," he said in an interview with BBC television.
Al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia has staged two uprisings in the past six months, has given mixed signals over whether he is ready to stop fighting and join the political process.
There was no immediate word from the government or the US military on the ceasefire deal proposed by al-Sadr's aide.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini of Italy, which has troops in Iraq, said it was a good start.
"The news ....confirms that the difficult path towards democracy is possible in Iraq," he said in a statement. "This strengthens the hope that the elections can be conducted well: the same hope that drives the United Nations and the main international partners," he added. The timing seemed to be linked to the release hours earlier of a senior al-Sadr cleric, Mr Moayad al-Khazraji, who has spent almost a year in US custody in Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. A US official confirmed that Mr Khazraji was among 230 Iraqis freed from Abu Ghraib this week.Mr Allawi insists that al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia give up its weapons and get off the streets. For the past several days his government has been negotiating with Shia'ite elders and al-Sadr's aides on a possible ceasefire.
Iraqi PM hints at Bigley moves
Iraq's interim prime minister has hinted at behind the scenes movement in the case of British hostage Mr Kenneth Bigley.
Mr Iyad Allawi told the BBC he could not comment on whether a ransom was being negotiated. According to BBC News 24, Mr Allawi said: "There are certainly areas which are quite good. We are trying very hard. The situation is dynamic. We don't know whether it will produce a good result." His comments follow pressure from Libya's Gadafy family for Mr Bigley to be released and the Government's granting of an Irish passport on account of his mother's Irish nationality. The engineer was captured on September 16th with two American colleagues who were beheaded soon afterwards.
Additional reporting: PA