DATE=11/13/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=AHERN - NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE (L-O)
NUMBER=2-256111
BYLINE=BARBARA SCHOETZAU
DATELINE=NEW YORK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In New York today (Friday), the Prime Minister
of the Republic of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, said he
hopes a weekend of reflection will help both sides in
Northern Ireland to break the deadlock when they
resume talks Monday over the 1998 peace agreement.
Correspondent Barbara Schoetzau reports from New York.
TEXT: Mr. Ahern, an architect of the so-called "Good
Friday" peace agreement, says it is time to stop
trying to change the peace accord and start
implementing it.
The main parties to the peace agreement are stalled
over the issue of weapons.
The largest of the groups favoring continued British
rule, the Ulster Unionist Party, wants the Irish
Republican Army to begin turning over its weapons
before its political wing, Sinn Fein, takes up its
leadership positions in the new Northern Ireland
Assembly. Sinn Fein objects to the new condition,
saying it is not part of the original peace agreement.
Former U-S Senator George Mitchell - who brokered the
1998 agreement - has been working to break the impasse
for 10 weeks. Early Friday, he sent both sides home,
asking them to "pause and reflect on the magnitude of
the decisions they have to make."
Prime Minister Ahern says both sides should remember
how far they have come and how much they have
achieved. And, he says, they should also remember
that no side in any dispute ever achieves everything
it wants.
/// AHERN ACT ///
We are now faced with implementing what the
people have overwhelmingly voted for. The
people voted for this agreement. And it is said
by everyone in the North that there is no
agreement ever more studied than the Good Friday
agreement. Therefore, we have an obligation to
implement it. We were asked to review it. We
reviewed it. And now I think there is no more
we can do. We can just reflect on it and say
"Yes" or "Nay." I just hope everybody says
"Yes."
/// END ACT ////
Mr. Ahern says he remains optimistic the two sides
will be able to resolve points of contention when they
resume talks Monday. The Irish prime minister, ending
a three-day visit to New York, spoke to the National
Committee on American Foreign Policy, a private U-S
group that has been influential in the peace
process.(SIGNED)
NEB/NYC/BJS/LSF/JP
12-Nov-1999 17:06 PM EDT (12-Nov-1999 2206 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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