DATE=6/5/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NORTHERN IRELAND (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263174
BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN
DATELINE=LONDON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Northern Ireland's home-rule assembly has
resumed work after a four-month suspension because of
the timing of paramilitary disarmament. V-O-A
Correspondent Laurie Kassman in London reports
unionists and republicans still disagree over symbols
of British rule in the province.
TEXT: It is business as usual again for Northern
Ireland's parliament, and that means new disputes over
the political future of the province.
Home-rule powers were suspended four months ago when
the dispute over paramilitary disarmament could not
be resolved. Pro-British unionists have demanded the
Irish Republican Army start disarming before they
share power with republicans who want independence
from British rule.
The latest I-R-A commitment to put its weapons beyond
use has satisfied the unionist demands enough to renew
the power-sharing arrangement.
But the assembly's political good will is being tested
by new terrorist threats.
British police are investigating a bomb blast that
damaged a London bridge last week. No group has
claimed responsibility, but police suspect republican
extremists opposed to the peace process.
Gerry Adams, who heads the political wing of the Irish
Republican Army, says it is time to stop the violence
on both sides.
/// ADAMS ACT ///
Let's continue with what is going to happen
today, the process of making politics work so we
persuade all of those in armed groups -- and I
include the British Army and R-U-C (police
force) -- that all of them will see that
conflict is a thing of the past
/// END ACT ///
Northern Ireland's power-sharing assembly has to deal
with implementation of the 1998 peace agreement, which
ended 30 years of sectarian violence. Disagreements
continue over several aspects of the arrangement.
Unionists, for one, protest proposed reforms that
would eliminate British symbols from Northern
Ireland's police force. Republicans want closer ties
to the Irish republic
The fragility of the power sharing arrangement was
highlighted in the first parliamentary session when
hard-line unionists demanded the government's two
republican ministers be forced to fly the British flag
over their office buildings, something they both
refused to do last week on the anniversary of Queen
Elizabeth's coronation. (Signed)
NEB/LMK/KL
05-Jun-2000 09:42 AM EDT (05-Jun-2000 1342 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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