Mandela Suggests Peaceful Solution for IRA, Britain : Ireland: The ANC leader cites his group’s negotiations with South Africa as a good example.

Black leader Nelson Mandela on Monday urged Britain and the Irish Republican Army to follow the example of his African National Congress and the South African government and begin to negotiate an end to 20 years of bloodshed in Northern Ireland.

“People are slaughtering one another when they could sit down and address the problems in a peaceful manner,” Mandela, who is on a worldwide tour to boost his anti-apartheid campaign, told a Dublin news conference.

Almost 3,000 people have died and 30,000 have been hurt in the 20-year-long fight by IRA guerrillas to oust Britain from Northern Ireland and unite the province with the Irish Republic.

“What we would like to see is that the British government and the IRA should adopt the precise line we have taken,” Mandela said.

Since the 71-year-old Mandela was freed from prison in February, the ANC has begun tentative talks with South Africa’s white minority government about the country’s future.

Mandela flew to Dublin on Sunday from an eight-city tour of the United States, where he was criticized for praising Cuban President Fidel Castro, Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi and Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat.

Choosing his words carefully when asked if he supports the IRA, Mandela said: “The issue is that differences have arisen. As a result of those differences, many people have died. What is the sense in continuing with that mutual slaughter when they could sit down and discuss peace?”

Mandela, who is deputy president of the ANC, denied that his group had ever had contact with the IRA.

“We have certainly had no meetings with the IRA,” he said. “We are an organization committed to peace, and if we resorted to violence (it was because) we had no alternative.”

Mandela will meet with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in London on Wednesday.