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Let's talk, Sinn Fein negotiator tells N.Irish foe

Posted on: Saturday, 30 July 2005, 10:40 CDT

By Jodie Ginsberg

BELFAST (Reuters) - The main pro-British party in Northern Ireland should talk directly to Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army's political ally, now the guerrillas have vowed to scrap their arms, Sinn Fein's top negotiator said on Saturday.

The IRA formally ended its campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland on Thursday and ordered its units to dump all their weapons in a crucial step toward securing lasting peace in the province after 30 years of conflict in which 3,600 died.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refuses to hold direct talks with Sinn Fein, let alone join it in the power-sharing government that formed the cornerstone of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, while the IRA continues to hold arms.

"It is time for the DUP to step up to the plate and represent the interests of those who vote for them," Sinn Fein's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said. "It is time that they sit down face-to-face with Irish Republicans."

McGuinness was speaking after his return from the United States, where he briefed politicians on the IRA's decision. Traditional U.S. supporters spurned Sinn Fein earlier this year after a high-profile robbery and murder blamed on IRA members.

"Over the last three days I met with U.S. Envoy Mitchell Reiss, members of Congress ... and many in Irish America who have been long supporters of the Irish peace process," he said.

"There was widespread support for the IRA's decision to end its armed campaign and recognition, not just of the historic nature of the move, but also the need for momentum to be maintained."

But talks on restoring the Belfast-based assembly, suspended three years ago after the IRA dragged its heels on disarming, are unlikely to begin soon.

The DUP, skeptical the IRA will honor its latest commitment after a string of broken promises, has said it will be months before it can judge whether the IRA has kept its word.

Northern Ireland's Independent Monitoring Commission, a watchdog that will check whether the IRA has kept its promises, will give a special progress report in January, and talks are unlikely to begin in earnest until then.

The IRA has given no timetable for decommissioning its arms but The Irish Times newspaper quoted government sources on Friday as saying Dublin hoped the IRA's entire arsenal could be destroyed by the end of August.

The newspaper said there were "strong indications" the first act of arms decommissioning could be only days away.

Source: REUTERS

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