N. Ireland Given ‘Nonnegotiable’ Final Peace Plan

The British and Irish governments issued their last-ditch proposal to salvage the Northern Ireland peace accord Wednesday, promising a rolling reduction of British troops and military installations in the province as the Irish Republican Army gives up its guns.

The package, presented to Northern Ireland’s political parties as “nonnegotiable,” offers new plans for integrating Roman Catholics into a reformed police force, granting amnesty to fugitives in the sectarian conflict and appointing an international judge to investigate high-profile killings of Catholics and Protestants.

Although it says that paramilitary disarmament is an “indispensable part” of the agreement, the proposal does not set a date or prescribe the means for the elimination of weapons, leaving the ball squarely in the IRA’s court.

Northern Ireland’s Protestant leaders have refused to continue in a power-sharing government with the IRA’s political ally, Sinn Fein, unless the outlawed paramilitary group disarms. The British-Irish document says only that this must be done in a manner acceptable to the independent disarmament commission set up under the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.

The governments asked all parties to consider the package carefully before responding by Monday.

The proposal goes a long way toward meeting Irish republican demands for full implementation of the Good Friday accord, but whether the plan is sufficient to entice the IRA to abandon its weapons remains to be seen. Political analysts said they expect the IRA’s Army Council to respond in the next few days.

Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary, John Reid, and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen acknowledged that pro-British Protestants and Catholic nationalists striving for a united Ireland will dislike parts of the package, but they said the survival of the peace process is at stake.

“I accept that each will have difficulties with aspects of what we propose. But, taken as a whole, I hope that they will see that it has the potential to deliver what each of them needs,” Cowen said.

If either side rejects the plan, the British government will either suspend the provincial government and resume direct rule over Northern Ireland or call new provincial elections. It is unlikely that enough pro-agreement Protestants could win election to form a new power-sharing government.

“Over the past three years, we’ve come a very long way in Northern Ireland in addressing the historic and deep-seated problems here,” Reid said. “Having traveled this far, it would be nothing short of tragic if that progress were to be jeopardized now.”

The document says that the peace agreement can be saved only if all parts of the accord are implemented together. It says that British demilitarization of Northern Ireland depends on a reduction in the perceived threat from the IRA, which has honored a cease-fire since 1997.

“Provided the threat is reduced, the British government will carry out a progressive rolling program reducing levels of troops and installations in Northern Ireland. Ultimately, the normal state would mean the vacation, return or demolition of the great majority of army bases . . . [and] all surveillance towers, no further army presence in police stations and the use of army helicopters for training purposes only,” it says.

In addition to responding to Catholic demands on demilitarization, policing, amnesty and investigations into alleged police collusion in slayings, the document promises Protestants a review of the Parades Commission, a government-appointed panel that decides the routes that Protestant processions may take during the annual marching season. Protestants are angry that the commission denies them permission to march through Catholic neighborhoods.

The proposal also offers Protestants a fund to assist families of police officers and soldiers killed by paramilitary groups.

Also on Wednesday, police said British army experts defused a 44-pound car bomb at the international airport in Belfast, the provincial capital. The discovery was made after a telephone warning.

Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, who resigned as first minister of Northern Ireland last month over the IRA’s failure to disarm, said the British-Irish plan will be “irrelevant” unless the IRA begins to get rid of its guns.

“The crisis will only be resolved by republicans fulfilling their obligations,” Trimble said. “In the absence of decommissioning, there will be no progress, and consequently no Ulster Unionist will be able to offer himself for election as first minister.”

He said his party’s ruling council will meet Monday to respond to the package, giving the IRA the full period to respond first.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams accused Trimble of holding the peace process hostage over his demands for IRA disarmament and said, “The IRA in its own council will make up their own minds.”

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Times special correspondent William Graham in Belfast contributed to this report.