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SODANO-NAJAF Aug-17-2004 (730 words) xxxi
Cardinal says Vatican ready to mediate U.S.-Iraqi standoff in Najaf
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican said it was ready to help mediate a solution to a standoff between U.S. troops and Shiite militants in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.
"The Holy See is obviously always willing to help all sides talk and engage in dialogue," said a Vatican spokesman, Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini.
The Holy See would offer its services "on the condition that there truly exists the will to take up peaceful ways toward a solution to the conflict," he said in a written statement released Aug. 17 by the Vatican.
Since Aug. 5, U.S. troops backed by Iraqi government forces in Najaf have been locked in intense fighting with militants supporting Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Much of the fighting has centered on the Shiite Imam Ali Shrine, where many of the militants have been hiding; al-Sadr is also believed to be inside the shrine.
The Shiite Muslim cleric called for followers to rise up and fight against what he has called the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
The Associated Press reported at least eight U.S. troops and 20 Iraqi officers have been killed in Najaf since fighting began. The U.S. military said it believes hundreds of insurgents have been killed in battle, but the militants dispute that figure.
Father Benedettini said the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, is in "close contact" with Iraq's apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, and Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad, in order to "directly follow developments of the situation" on the ground in Iraq.
Cardinal Sodano affirmed that, "if it is asked of us, the pope will very willingly agree to (support) a mediation," whose "aim is for all sides to come round the table to talk."
The Vatican "is always available. The pope would certainly never back away" from helping disputing parties sit down to talks, he told Italian state radio, RAI, Aug. 15.
Italian media reported that the request for the Vatican's help in negotiating an end to the standoff in Najaf came from al-Sadr's spokesman, Awas al-Khafayl.
The Vatican's former foreign affairs minister, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, told the Italian daily La Repubblica that "the request for mediation is a sign of the prestige and great moral authority" the Islamic world attributes to Pope John Paul.
"Everyone appreciates his view that is based on safeguarding the rights of every person" equally without trying to protect one group at the expense of another, he said in the interview published Aug. 17.
However, Archbishop Filoni cautioned that it was important to first understand the real motives for requesting the Vatican's help before any serious consideration of possible talks began.
It must be understood "what the true intentions are of the different parties fighting. The Holy See has confirmed its willingness to act as an intermediary and nothing more," he told Asianews, a Rome-based news agency run by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.
If al-Sadr "demonstrates a willingness to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, we must accept it," said the archbishop Aug. 17.
Commenting while accompanying Pope John Paul II on his Aug. 14-15 pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, Cardinal Sodano lamented the ongoing violence in Iraq.
"The repeated killings dishonor Islam and all the noble Iraqi people. We ask that the sacred character of the city be respected as we condemn every form of violence," he told RAI radio.
The Imam Ali Shrine represents one of the holiest places for Shiite Muslims, who consider Ali the true successor of the prophet Mohammed. For centuries, Shiites have flocked to Najaf and Ali's tomb to pay their respects.
Meanwhile, the U.N.'s special envoy to Iraq also said the United Nations is willing to help negotiate a solution to the fighting in Najaf if all sides agree.
Iraqi delegates at the National Conference in Baghdad voted Aug. 16 to send representatives to Najaf to ask al-Sadr to end the uprising and join the political process.
The conference is a gathering of religious, political and tribal leaders from across Iraq.
Leading the call for an end to the uprising was al-Sadr's relative, Hussein al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric.
He told conference delegates that they "must work together to convince Muqtada al-Sadr and the dear brothers in the Mehdi Army to transform into a political party whatever its leaning," international media reported Aug. 16.
END
Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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