Sadrist movement demands a "guarantor" prior to talks with al-Ameri

Shafaq News/ The Sadrist movement may request a "guarantor" for any deal with the Coordination Framework that might be reached in the anticipated talks with the head of al-Fatah bloc, Hadi al-Ameri, a source said on Wednesday.

"Al-Ameri had represented the Coordination Framework in a previous round of talks with the Sadrist movement," the source told Shafaq News Agency, "the talks, however, failed because some parties were intransigent and insisted upon forming a consensus government."

"For al-Sadr to accept sitting with al-Ameri on the negotiations table, the latter has to offer a guarantor that ensures that the Framework, or whoever al-Ameri represents, commit to the conditions al-Sadr has hinted at earlier, and might announce soon," the source added.

According to a source from inside the Coordination Framework, al-Ameri will be holding talks with the Sadrist movement on behalf of the Coordination Framework.

The talks are slated to take place in the next few days, the source said.

A leading figure in al-Fatah bloc, Ali Hussein Obeid al-Fatlawi, said that "al-Ameri's negotiation mandate with al-Sadr has not acquired the official status as things stand. It is being deliberated inside the decision-making corridors of the Coordination Framework."

"Al-Ameri might be knocking al-Hannana's doors in the next two days," al-Fatlawi added, "but no announced meeting has been scheduled."

Populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr made a surprise move on Monday by offering "conditional reconciliation" with al-Ameri, who leads a major party of the rival Shiite Coordination Framework.

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad Monday in counter-protests as rival supporters of al-Sadr extended their sit-in in parliament.

Almost ten months after Iraqis went to the polls, a political standoff pits two key factions of the Shiite political scene, between the populist al-Sadr with a devoted following of millions, and the Coordination Framework, a consortium of mainly Iran-backed Shiite forces.

Amid the tensions, Ameri addressed an open letter to Sadr on Monday.

Noting that the tensions could boil over into violence, he called on his "brothers in the Sadrist movement and Coordination Framework to return to reason and wisdom, show restraint, and prioritize the country and people, through holding serious and constructive dialogue aimed at reaching solutions to disputes between them."

Saleh Mohammad al-Iraqi, who runs a Twitter account named" the leader's advisor" and widely believed to be al-Sadr's mouthpiece, said that should the Sadrists agree to dialogue, in return, they expect Ameri and his bloc to quit the Framework.

In a statement he issued earlier today, the leader of al-Fatah bloc endorsed caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's call for national dialogue in Iraq, urging the major political forces to ease the tensions and show self-restraint.