Britain, Ireland Promote Northern Ireland Peace

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 07, 2003

Britain, Ireland Promote Northern Ireland Peace

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern have agreed that a complete end to paramilitary activity is the key to peace in Northern Ireland.

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern have agreed that a complete end to paramilitary activity is the key to peace in Northern Ireland.

Following the talks in Dublin with Irish Premier Bertie Ahern on Tuesday, Blair said elections for the power-sharing assembly inNorthern Ireland could not go ahead because the Irish Republican Army had given a "point-blank" refusal to answer his question on the peace process.

Blair said commitments from the IRA to cease such activity, andfrom pro-British unionists to support institutions and not walk out, were necessary to move ahead.

"If we let this small number of extremists dislocate this process we will betray our own future," Blair said.

Northern Ireland's devolved assembly was suspended on Oct. 14, 2002, amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering at the heart of the Stormont government. Elections to form a new power-sharing administration in the British province were postponed last week until the autumn over IRA's failure to make a clear commitment to peace.

Bertie Ahern, who last week broke with Blair over the postponement of the scheduled May 29 assembly election, also said,"We would welcome the unambiguous response from the IRA-- which makes clear that there will be a definitive end to all paramilitary activity."

"We are determined to move on with the implementation of the joint declaration, in so as far as we can, to deal with the issuesof criminal justice, of policing, security normalization, equalityissues, and of course the implementation of the independence monitoring body."

Following the Blair-Ahern meeting in the afternoon, the IRA released two statements Tuesday night -- the one given to the two governments three weeks ago and the other which sets out its current thinking.

In the statements, the IRA leadership told the British and Irish governments the "full and irreversible implementation" of the Good Friday Agreement and other commitments would create a context in which it would have definitely set aside arms.

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