Skip to main content
CNN.com International
The Web    CNN.com      Powered by
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ON TV
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WORLD

N. Ireland: 'Intellect' required


story.blairahern.ap.jpg
Blair and Ahern told a press conference the deal had stalled.
SPECIAL REPORT
• Overview: Breaking the cycle
• Profiles: Key players
• Timeline: Decades of violence
QUICKVOTE
Should photos be taken to verify IRA disarmament?
Yes
No
VIEW RESULTS
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Northern Ireland
Great Britain
Ian Paisley
Gerry Adams

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- All sides in Northern Ireland need to use their "intellect" to find a way through the deadlock over IRA disarmament, the UK minister with responsibility for the province says.

Before briefing the British Cabinet on the failure to achieve a landmark peace deal between the Rev Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy said he was not discouraged by what had happened.

"The fact is that we were almost there. We have a last bit of the mountain to scale," he told the UK's Press Association.

"It is an important issue that is difficult but I do not see why we cannot crack it in the end.

"The issue over decommissioning is one of confidence and transparency. We have to bring all our intellect from across the political spectrum to bear on how to deal with this issue."

On Wednesday British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that an agreement on powersharing between Northern Ireland's two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein, had almost been agreed.

But the outlawed paramilitary Irish Republican Army -- with whom Sinn Fein are linked -- would not accept the joint British-Irish proposal that they photograph the decommissioning of their weaponry.

With the IRA balking at that proposal for transparency, the hardline Protestant DUP said it would not sit with Sinn Fein, the IRA's political ally, in the government.

"Roman Catholics and Protestants alike are now saying that the DUP are right, that this should be transparent," the DUP's leader, 78-year-old preacher Ian Paisley, said in Belfast after a meeting with retired Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain, the mediator between the two sides on disarmament.

"The little man behind the garden fence should be sure the IRA is decommissioning."

Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's largest Roman Catholic party, said focusing on the documentation issue distracted "from what has been achieved."

long.adams.ap.jpg
Adams said "a demand for humiliation" was holding the deal up.

"Here today we have the British prime minister telling us that Ian Paisley has said 'yes' ... to every issue "except for one," Adams said. "I do think that is an indication of the progress that has been achieved."

But, he said, he had told the prime ministers at the beginning of the process that the IRA was unlikely to accept the DUP's demand to photographically document the destruction of its weapons.

"What's holding it up is the demand for a process of humiliation, and I don't think we should let that hold it up," he said.

On Thursday leading Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the IRA must have a change of heart on disarmament if there was to be political progress.

"I hope over the weekend republicans will take time to reflect on the progress that has been made in the negotiations," he told PA.

"But republicans need to set themselves some serious questions about what has happened. If there is going to be an impasse over decommissioning, then it could go on for a long time."

In a statement issued through the republican newspaper An Phoblacht, the IRA accused DUP leader Paisley of trying to humiliate them by demanding photographic evidence.

The organization said it was prepared to go to some lengths in the event of a comprehensive peace deal.

long.paisley.ap.jpg
Paisley: Man behind the garden fence need to know IRA really was disarming.

This included the IRA moving "into a new mode" reflecting a transition to a totally peaceful society; the destruction of all IRA arms in a verifiable manner as soon as possible and, if possible, by the end of December in the presence of two clergymen.

It added that all IRA members would be given specific instructions not to engage in anything which could endanger a comprehensive peace process deal.

On the key question of weapons, the Provisionals said: "For his part, Ian Paisley demanded that our contribution be photographed, and reduced to an act of humiliation. This was never possible."

The Irish government was more optimistic Thursday.

Republicans did not entirely rule out the issue of obtaining photographic evidence of IRA decommissioning, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said.

He told PA: "The refusal of photographs wasn't as explicit as is being indicated, in my view.

"It was always part of the discussions that photographs may be necessary in order to convince the DUP to bring them over the line.

"Always we knew the issue of photographs in themselves might not be the difficulty but the publication of the photographs in such a way as would be seen as being a humiliation or a victory for one side would not be countenanced."

He said the British and Irish governments would try to find a middle ground between the positions of DUP and Sinn Fein.


Story Tools
Click Here to try 4 Free Trial Issues of Time! cover
Top Stories
Iran poll to go to run-off
Top Stories
EU 'crisis' after summit failure

CNN US
On CNN TV E-mail Services CNN Mobile CNN AvantGo CNNtext Ad info Preferences
SEARCH
   The Web    CNN.com     
Powered by
© 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us.
external link
All external sites will open in a new browser.
CNN.com does not endorse external sites.
 Premium content icon Denotes premium content.