Iraq’s interim President Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar said in an interview published on Monday that the government will within ”a couple of days” offer an amnesty to insurgents who have fought United States-led forces but are ready to lay down their arms.
”We are offering an amnesty definitely, for people who have not committed too many atrocious acts; everybody except murderers, rapists, and kidnappers,” Yawar said in an interview with Britain’s Financial Times newspaper.
Yawar, speaking to the Financial Times on Sunday, said the goverment is trying to separate ”the bad elements from the good” in Fallujah, a centre of Sunni opposition, ”without shedding any innocent blood”.
Yawar said the government will welcome Moqtada al-Sadr, the occupation’s leading Shia opponent, into the fold, as long as he relinquishes arms and sends a lawyer to answer questions in connection with the killing of Abdul Majid al-Khoei.
Washington had earlier said al-Sadr, accused of inciting the murder of the moderate Iraqi cleric and two companions last year, should attend in person.
Yawar said the matter can be handled ”in a way that preserves his dignity”.
Meanwhile, he said that the Iraqi government welcomes military support from countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Yemen, but not from neighbours like Jordan, which offered its assistance last week.
”It shouldn’t be from a direct neighbour,” he said. ”There will be a conflict of interests.” — Sapa-AFP