British, Irish Leaders See Hope for Peace

The British and Irish premiers said Thursday that they saw a glimmer of progress in Northern Ireland’s stalled peace process.

“We haven’t made a fundamental breakthrough, but we have certainly made some progress,” Ireland’s Bertie Ahern said after nearly two hours of talks with Tony Blair.

“Cooperation between the British and Irish governments is excellent,” Ahern said. “It does give me confidence that we can, on the other side of Easter, make progress.”

Many in Northern Ireland see the next few weeks as make-or-break for the Good Friday peace accord signed two years ago.

The accord envisaged complete disarmament by the Irish Republican Army by May 22 this year. Protestant politicians say the pact’s credibility will be ruined if not one gun is handed over by that date.

IRA guerrillas issued a statement Thursday calling for lasting peace but offering no sign of disarmament.

Pro-British unionists and two outlawed Protestant militias repudiated the IRA’s statement.

David Trimble, head of the Ulster Unionist Party, said it was deeply depressing and had undermined current negotiations.

“The IRA . . . through its own stubborn refusal to commit itself to peace by word and deed, has put off the day when Northern Ireland politicians administer Northern Ireland affairs,” Trimble said in a statement.

The IRA’s annual “Easter message,” ahead of weekend commemorations of the 1916 “Easter Rising” in Dublin against British rule, extolled the IRA’s cease-fire, lambasted Britain for alleged covert surveillance and harassment and put the onus for reviving the peace deal firmly on London.

“The IRA wants to see a permanent peace in our country,” it said.

Britain earlier this year suspended Belfast’s fledgling home-rule government shared by Protestants and Roman Catholics because it said the IRA had shown no commitment to disarm.