SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has implicitly told his opponents that he will not negotiate with them, he said in a statement on Saturday.
Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has released a fresh statement on his Twitter account, refusing to negotiate with his political opponents, according to the statement.
“We will not negotiate with corrupts and those who attempted to assassinate me,” Sadr in the statement said.
Sadr also implicitly accused the Shiite coordination framework of not giving a satisfactory response after he proposed an initiative for direct dialogue.
“We proposed an initiative to the United Nations but we did not receive a satisfactory response”, adding “do not further expect secret meetings with me [Sadr], I will not meet with corrupts,” He said.
Politicians deadlocked over forming a new government since an election in October have deepened more, since influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr continues to refuse the calls to negotiate, insisting to hold a snap election and constitutional amendments.
The bitter rivalry among political elites, mainly among the country’s majority Shiites, has delayed the process to form a government. With the Shiites divided there are fears that Iraq could slide into intra-sectarian violent conflict.
The standoff has raised fears of renewed unrest in a country where militias wield significant power and is already taking a toll on the most vulnerable.
