Secretary Says Peace Effort Will Continue

Feuding Protestant and Catholic politicians just need more space and time to repair the heavy-duty damage inflicted on their peace accord, Britain’s senior official in Belfast said. Northern Ireland Secretary Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam said all the players involved were “sad and disappointed” over Thursday’s failure to form a new Protestant-Catholic administration for the province. But Mowlam stressed that she believed it still eventually will happen. She said the British government hopes former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) would play a role in identifying the best route forward, beginning Tuesday at a meeting in London with the British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern. Mitchell chaired two years of negotiations that produced the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, which called for the establishment of the coalition government.