NORTHERN IRELAND Peace deal falls apart

Northern Ireland leaders disagree on how to verify IRA disarmament.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
LONDON -- Northern Ireland's feuding leaders came close but ultimately failed to reach a final peace agreement Wednesday, agreeing on all but one of the major sticking points that have blocked the U.S.-brokered 1998 Good Friday accord from being implemented.
Their failure to agree on a formula for verifying the weapons-decommissioning efforts by the Irish Republican Army marked a clear setback for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had hoped to conclude a peace deal before his imminent announcement of plans to seek a third five-year term in office.
Blair insisted the two sides have never been closer to a deal that would end three decades of bloodshed between Catholics and Protestants. "As far as we're concerned, everything else is agreed," he told reporters in Belfast during a joint appearance with Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister.
Blair has worked intensively in recent weeks with Ahern to nudge Northern Ireland's republican and unionist factions toward a final settlement. President Bush also telephoned Northern Ireland's leaders repeatedly to stress Washington's support for the deal.
"Our work must continue to secure agreement and closure on what, by any standards, is a hugely impressive, and indeed a landmark package," Ahern said.
Disputes
Outstanding disputes over issues such as policing, arms decommissioning and the ongoing presence of British troops prompted the suspension of Northern Ireland's local assembly two years ago and threatened a cease-fire between Protestant and Catholic militias.
The mainly Protestant unionists favor maintaining close ties to Britain, whereas the mainly Catholic republicans seek greater autonomy for Northern Ireland's government, local policing and the withdrawal of British forces.
Blair and Ahern took the unusual step Wednesday of publishing details of the peace plan they have been negotiating with unionist and republican leaders, even though disagreements over the document remain. Blair insisted that all major disputes dividing the two sides have now been resolved except for the verification procedure for decommissioned IRA weapons.
Blair pledged to continue meeting with leaders to reach an acceptable verification formula, but he offered no timeline for finishing the job. His job is hampered by the unionists' refusal to meet face-to-face with Sinn Fein, the dominant Catholic party and the IRA's chief political ally.
His and Ahern's solution was for the IRA to submit photographs of the weapons it hands over, but they insisted that the militia's rejection did not mean it was to blame for Wednesday'sbreakdown.Eventually, Blair said, all sides will accept a verification formula because their constituents are demanding it.
"What people want to know in Northern Ireland is that it is over, that there's not going to be any more [amassing of] weapons," he said.
Fiery words
The unionist leader, the Rev. Ian Paisley, withdrew from peace talks last year after insisting that the IRA provide proof of its disarmament. Both sides had previously agreed to accept independent certification of the disarmament. With a retired Canadian general as the mutually accepted witness, the IRA has carried out three stages of the disarmament plan since 2001.
Although Sinn Fein had appeared close to accepting a plan for submitting photographs, the deal fell apart after Paisley issued statements this week calling for the IRA "bloodthirsty monsters" and demanding that its leaders "repent."
Sinn Fein leaders said Paisley's demands, coupled with his fiery rhetoric, amounted to a public humiliation of the IRA, provoking its decision to abort the peace deal.
But Paisley refused to temper his words, telling reporters Wednesday, "I'm not withdrawing anything I've said about the bloodthirsty monsters of the IRA."
He added, "Murder is murder. . . . If people have guns, if they use those guns for killing and massacres, if they continue to arm themselves and break the law, then no matter what seats they win at an election, they are not democrats. And I only will do business with democrats."