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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) stands with Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Brian Cowen - Source: Reuters -
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Britain to give
Northern Ireland authority over its justice system to complete a
peace process that was boosted when a paramilitary group said it
would end violence.
Clinton, who met Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen in Dublin and
holds talks with leaders in Belfast, said the peace process on the
island was a model for other world hot spots, but more work needed
to be done.
Fighting between pro-British and Irish nationalist groups killed
3,600 people before a 1998 peace deal that was followed by pledges
by the main militant organisations on both sides including the
Irish Republican Army (IRA) to disarm.
"It will take the leaders of both communities working together ...
to make day-to-day governing a reality and I am confident that is
within reach," Clinton told a joint press conference with
Cowen.
The fragile balance within the Belfast power-sharing executive that
includes former IRA guerrillas and hard-line pro-British leaders
has been tested by tensions over the timing of devolving policing
and justice powers from Westminster.
"The step of devolution for policing and justice is an absolutely
essential milestone," Clinton said.
"Clearly, there are questions and some apprehensions but ... the
parties understand this is a step they must take together."
The peace process got a further lift on Sunday as the paramilitary
group the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) said it would end
its violent activities.
"The Republican Socialist Movement has been informed by the Irish
National Liberation Army that ... it has concluded that the armed
struggle is over," Martin McMonagle, a spokesman for the INLA's
political ally the Irish Republican Socialist Party, said at an
event in Bray, a seaside resort south of Dublin.
Together with moves by pro-British militant groups earlier this
year to disarm, the INLA announcement showed growing political
stability, Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said.
"Indications from any group who have been involved in violent
activity in the North to the effect that they are ceasing such
activity, that's a welcome development," Martin told reporters
ahead of Clinton's arrival.
The IRA's political ally Sinn Fein said it welcomed the statement
from the INLA, adding that it would be met with some scepticism
given the history of the organisation.
"However, if it is followed by the actions that are necessary this
is a welcome development," Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said in
a statement.
Attack on police
Underlining the continuing security threat in the UK province, 10
police officers were wounded in a serious disturbance involving
more than 150 people in County Armagh south of Belfast in the early
hours of Sunday, police said.
They said the crowd attacked a police patrol, smashing the windows
of police vehicles and kicking and punching officers, but added
that none of the injuries were believed to be serious.
Politically to the left of the IRA, the INLA broke away in 1975 and
became one of the most ruthless Republican guerrilla groups killing
former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's aide Airey Neave
in a 1979 bomb attack in London.
The group, which had a history of violent infighting, called a
ceasefire in 1998, but an independent report in 2007 said that
while activity was at a low level it remained a threat due to its
involvement in serious crimes.
The INLA, like most other dissident groups, has been linked to
criminal activities such as smuggling and drug dealing, and it has
used bases in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland,
especially around Dublin.
The Sunday Tribune newspaper, which has good connections with
dissident groups, said the Real IRA, another faction which killed
two soldiers at a Northern Irish army barracks in March, had no
intention of calling a ceasefire or disbanding.
"We are strengthening our ranks," it quoted an unnamed source as
saying on behalf of the Real IRA.
