Some hopeful news from The New York Times Online:

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August 6, 2001

I.R.A. Agrees to Arms Pact in Move Hailed as Historic

By WARREN HOGE

LONDON, Aug. 6 - The Irish Republican Army has agreed to a method of destroying its arsenal of weapons that is provable and permanent, the commission responsible for the disarming of paramilitary forces in Northern Ireland said today.

Britain and Ireland termed the statement "significant'' and "historic'' and said it represented the long-sought breakthrough needed to push forward with the stalled peace accord for the embattled province.

The plan itself was not disclosed, and the crucial matter of when actual disarmament would begin was left unaddressed. But the commission chairman, Gen. John de Chastelain of Canada, said the proposals had been accepted by his arms monitoring panel as ones that would ``put I.R.A. arms completely and verifiably beyond use.''

The announcement of the I.R.A. move came just hours before a deadline for Northern Ireland's political parties to decide whether or not to accept an Anglo-Irish package of measures given them last Wednesday in an effort to forestall imminent collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The legislature is the centerpiece of a government set up in Belfast by the April 1998 peace agreement that seeks to end decades of violent conflict between Protestants and Catholics by apportioning political power between them.

Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland hailed the development as the elusive ``major breakthrough'' in the arms impasse and urged Ulster's politicians to view it that way. ``People should see the historic significance rather than trying to see difficulties in it,'' he said.

The province's largest party, the Ulster Unionists, has said it will no longer take part in the power-sharing government if the I.R.A. does not begin disarming. Party officials welcomed today's announcement but questioned whether a simple announcement of intention rather than an actual act of weapons destruction would be enough to persuade them to continue the power-sharing
arrangement.

``The I.R.A. has taken a significant step towards decommissioning, but it hasn't actually begun decommissioning,'' said David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist leader.

Mr. Ahern held out the possibility that such action might be about to follow. ``Hopefully over the next number of days, perhaps the outstanding issue of the commencement of that process hopefully will also move on,'' he told RTE Radio in Dublin.

Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary, John Reid, said, ``The agreement between the commission and the I.R.A. is an important, and, I believe, a very significant step forward. I believe it provides the basis and potential for rapidly resolving the arms issue.''

The arms issue has continually brought peace talks in Northern Ireland to the point of crisis, and in the three-year period since the accord was agreed to, there have been a series of crunch talks to try to solve it. Since its creation in 1997, the de Chastelain commission has waited in vain for the I.R.A. and Protestant guerrilla groups to begin scrapping weapons under its supervision.

Today's announcement came after meetings between the panel and a representative of the I.R.A. A commission spokesman would not furnish any details of the I.R.A. plan other than to say that it satisfied demands that the method pose ``no risk to the public and avoid the possibility of misappropriation by others.''

The I.R.A. has been on ceasefire for four years, but disaffected members of the organization have formed new dissident groups like the Real I.R.A. that have planted bombs and launched mortar attacks to try to disrupt the peace effort. There is concern that renegades not have access to I.R.A. bunkers whose locations they once knew.

In what was the seventh such incident in London in the past 18 months, the Real I.R.A. set off a car bomb early Friday, injuring 11 people and destroying shops and buildings in Ealing Broadway, a busy West London neighborhood. Sinn Fein, the political wing of the I.R.A., was among those condemning it.

The current package of proposals, described as a take-it-or-leave-it document, was produced by Britain and Ireland after five days of talks last month led by Mr. Ahern and his British counterpart, Tony Blair, failed to produce any progress on arms.

Its principal provisions provided Sinn Fein with promises of stepped-up reduction of the British military presence in the North, independent investigations of the killings of human rights lawyers where Catholics suspect collusion with security forces and a more thorough-going reform of the predominantly Protestant police service to make it more acceptable to Catholics.

The original peace pact set a goal of total paramilitary disarmament by mid-2000. When that deadline lapsed, a new one of June 2001 was set. When that date passed, David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionists, stepped down from his job as first minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, in protest at I.R.A. unwillingness to act on guns.

That resignation set in place a timetable that expires this Saturday. By then, Britain and Ireland, the sponsors of the peace negotiations, must either obtain a start to disarmament, suspend the assembly and restore direct rule from London or hold elections, which they fear would put into power people opposed to the whole idea of dividing power among Protestants and Catholics.

With today's 11th-hour announcement, the deadline for a decision today was no longer seen as binding. ``Do not expect a response tonight, indeed it might be a few days before we are in a position to respond,'' said Michael McGimpsey, a senior Ulster Unionist.

In the weapons dispute, the most attention has been paid to the I.R.A. since it is by far the most heavily armed force and since it is the only one with political allies, Sinn Fein, taking part in government. How, the objectors say, can you let a party remain active in a political forum while it has a fully armed guerrilla force standing behind it?

In recent months, pressure had been growing on the I.R.A. and Sinn Fein for a weapons move, with Catholic leaders in the North, Irish politicians and the Irish press all joining in the calls.

Gerry Adams, the party's president, moved today to shift that pressure to his Protestant rivals.

``Once again, the I.R.A. has demonstrated its commitment to the search for a lasting peace,'' he said. ``The other parties need to match that commitment and should respond positively and constructively.''

British security estimates that the I.R.A. possesses three tons of Semtex explosive, 1,000 rifles and 600 handguns in addition to mortars, launchers and other military materiel. Secret dumps have been checked twice by two international weapons monitors - Martti Ahtisaari of Finland and Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa - who have reported back to the commission that the weapons are securely stored and cannot be removed undetected.

The manner of their destruction has been a crucial issue in the Northern Ireland political struggle. The I.R.A. is unwilling to surrender its weapons because it associates that with defeat. One
proposal reportedly under consideration - sealing bunkers with concrete - was unacceptable to Protestant politicians, who claimed it would not put weapons permanently out of use. Their counter proposal that the arms being destroyed by chemicals was rejected by the I.R.A.

Protestant distrust of Sinn Fein's commitment to peace has grown, fueled largely by the I.R.A.'s refusal to act on weapons and by a perception among Protestants that Catholics have gained more benefits from the negotiations than they have.

In the British national election June 7, members of the hard-line Democratic Unionists of the Rev. Ian Paisley gained notable support. The party's deputy leader, Peter Robinson, dismissed today's move as ``a further delaying tactic to gain further concessions.''

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