DATE=2/16/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NORTHERN IRELAND (L-ONLY) (CQ)
NUMBER=2-259219
BYLINE=LOURDES NAVARRO
DATELINE=LONDON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The British and Irish Prime Ministers are to
meet/are meeting in London today (Wednesday) with
Northern Ireland's political leaders to try to salvage
the province's battered peace process. The meeting
follows the announcement by the Irish Republican Army
(I-R-A) on Tuesday that it was pulling out of talks
with Northern Ireland's disarmament commission.
Lourdes Navarro in London reports that British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart, Bertie
Ahern, face an uphill battle in their efforts to
resolve this latest deadlock.
TEXT: Only days after Britain's Northern Ireland
Secretary, Peter Mandelson, suspended the province's
power-sharing government and took over control of
their political institutions, the I-R-A declared it
will no longer participate in meetings with Northern
Ireland's disarmament commission - dealing the peace
process another blow.
Prime Minister Tony Blair is holding emergency talks
with his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, in London.
They will also meet with separate delegations from
three of the province's key parties. But hopes for a
speedy resolution are reported to be running low.
Late last week, Britain suspended Northern Ireland's
political institutions after a report showed the I-R-A
had not begun to hand over its weapons - a central
condition of the 1998 peace accords.
The province's largest Protestant party, the pro-
British Ulster Unionists, said that they would not sit
in government with Catholic Sinn Fein because its
military wing was still holding weapons. Sinn Fein is
the political wing of the I-R-A.
///OPT// If the Ulster Unionist's would have pulled
out of the power-sharing assembly then the province's
political institutions would almost certainly have
collapsed. To prevent that, Britain put the government
on hold, taking over what they hope will be temporary
control. ///END OPT///
The Irish Republican Army's response was to withdraw
from meetings with the disarmament commission. The I-
R-A says that it will not hand over weapons under
pressure from the British government and the
Protestant parties. It also rescinded an offer made
only hours after Northern Ireland's government was
suspended to put their arsenal, as they put it,
`beyond use'. Although that offer had been rejected as
too vague, it had been deemed a positive step forward.
(Signed)
NEB/LN/GE/KL
16-Feb-2000 11:53 AM EDT (16-Feb-2000 1653 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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