Some Protestant Parties Stalk Out as Sinn Fein Arrives at Talks Site

Irish Republican Army supporters took their place at the site of Northern Ireland peace talks Monday, prompting some Protestant politicians to bolt for the door.

The largest pro-British Protestant party is still talking with the government, however, despite suspicions about the IRA’s new cease-fire.

Locked out of the talks for 13 months, senior figures of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party entered their offices thanks to the open-ended truce the IRA launched Sunday.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has indicated Sinn Fein can join other parties in negotiations starting Sept. 15 on Northern Ireland’s future if the IRA cease-fire holds. For now Sinn Fein can use an office at Stormont, the center of British administration in east Belfast, and start talking informally with anyone who’s willing.

Sinn Fein’s enemies made clear their distaste. The Rev. Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists avoided Stormont entirely; the small United Kingdom Unionist Party walked out when Sinn Fein came in.

The leader of the largest Protestant party, David Trimble, led an Ulster Unionist delegation to meet Blair in London. Trimble said he’d won no concessions but spoke of “some possibilities of progress.”

The British and Irish governments, which co-sponsor the talks, have drawn up rules for when the IRA must start disarming during negotiations. The rules are to be put to a vote Wednesday.