A breakthrough in Ulster

THERE HAVE BEEN far too many false dawns over Northern Ireland that one hesitates to welcome even a genuine movement forward. For the first time in half a century, the troubled British province sees light beyond the dark tunnel of sectarian killings. In a move that has been characterised by its leader as historic, the Irish Republican Army has given a pledge to put its arsenal of weapons completely and verifiably beyond use. It is not the peacenik's ideal goal of total surrender of arms but decommissioning, by which the IRA will ensure that its considerable accumulation of weapons would be sealed away beyond use in a manner that involves no risk to the public and avoids any possibility of falling into the hands of hardline rivals. The Canadian General given the task of overseeing the decommissioning has said he is satisfied with the IRA proposal and that it is in accordance with the three-year-old, path-breaking Good Friday Agreement that actually ushered in the current peace process. The issue of getting rid of weapons has all along bedevilled the 1998 agreement, with the reported decision by the IRA, the most feared terrorist network in the world and a role model for outfits like Sri Lanka's LTTE, made possible by a package of proposals unveiled a week ago jointly by the British and Irish Governments.

The ceasefire, a landmark power-sharing mechanism set up under the peace process and the not inconsiderable progress at breaking down barriers achieved so far have ensured that neither side - the Protestant Unionists who want the province to remain with Britain and the Catholic Republicans who want merger with the sectarian friendly Irish Republic - is willing to take the blame for any setback or breakdown. The blueprint drawn up by the two Governments marked a major effort at accommodating the fears of the republican groups. The broad thrust of the package covered reform of recruitment to the police force, which the republicans complained was now weighted in favour of the Protestants and did not fully reflect the composition of the province, and a programme of demilitarisation involving scaling down the presence of the British armed forces and the dismantling of army bases. There was an unmistakable eagerness to meet the demands of the republicans spearheaded by the IRA and its political arm, the Sinn Fein led by Mr. Gerry Adams. This had come about from the realisation that without a movement toward decommissioning of IRA arms, there was every possibility of the leadership of the rival Unionists slipping away from moderates like Mr. David Trimble and falling into the hands of hardliners. There was also the danger of obscurantist elements like Rev. Ian Paisley getting back to centre stage.

A hundred years of bloody sectarian strife in Northern Ireland is not about to end but the peace process has definitely been saved for now from the war-mongers on both sides of the religious divide. The massive car bomb explosion triggered in London by a splinter group of the IRA opposed to reconciliation and the killing of a Protestant teenager who was felled by a bullet intended for his Catholic friend underline the continuing, inexplicable tragedy that is Northern Ireland. Street clashes between Protestants and Catholics and paramilitary violence have continued even as the British and the Irish Governments battled with the peace process. Decommissioning of weapons was perhaps the most serious of obstacles. Considering that no terrorist outfit in the world has been successfully convinced by peace- makers to surrender their arms, what Britain and the Irish Republic have wrung out of the IRA and the Sinn Fein is a historic deal. Ulster may yet be beginning to see the light of peace.

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