Both Sides Must Bend in Ulster

Final implementation of the 1998 peace accord in Northern Ireland keeps fading as the two sides harden their positions. The Irish Republican Army refuses to disarm and disband as a paramilitary; Protestant Unionist leaders refuse to sit in government with the IRA’s political wing, Sinn Fein, as long as the IRA remains armed and militarized. To break the impasse, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, have set next Wednesday as a deadline for the establishment of a new executive body to govern Northern Ireland.

Both sides must bend. Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, must either find a meaningful move toward disarmament or disavow the IRA. David Trimble of the Protestant Ulster Unionist Party must also show leadership, imagination and flexibility in the effort to establish joint government in Northern Ireland. First, he must cease his angry denunciations of British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam, who has displayed evenhanded skill in a rough job.

Sinn Fein says it’s a political body with no firearms and that it cannot persuade the IRA to begin disarming by June 30. Adams rightly points out that “decommissioning” is not a condition for entry into government under the hard-fought 1998 Good Friday agreement. However, disarming is an indispensable part of the deal.

After the release from prison Tuesday of IRA bomber Patrick Magee, who tried to blow up Britain’s Cabinet 15 years ago and succeeded in killing five people, Sinn Fein and the IRA should move quickly in a positive direction. Magee’s freedom, while part of a larger prisoner release, grates hard on Unionists.

Many things have changed for the better in Ulster since the Good Friday agreement was signed. A cease-fire still holds. The relationship between Britain and Ireland has been transformed and is now imbued with trust. There are fewer British soldiers and roadblocks on the streets of Ulster. This climate of peace has spurred economic development, and new investors are placing their money in the region.

But tensions are rising as the summer and the Protestant “marching season” arrive, with Unionists demanding a right to conduct nose-thumbing parades through Catholic neighborhoods. Only reassuring reciprocal moves by Adams and Trimble--and their supporters--will keep permanent peace within reach.