CNN logo
Navigation
 
COMMUNITY 
Message Boards 
Chat 
Feedback 

SITE SOURCES 
Contents 
Help! 
Search 
CNN Networks 

SPECIALS 
Quick News 
Almanac 
Video Vault 
News Quiz 




Pathfinder/Warner Bros


Barnes and Noble



Election Watch grfk

Q & A

Insight
World banner
rule
Now quicker European access

N. Ireland talks: New hope after years of disappointments

April 8, 1998
Web posted at: 3:10 p.m. EDT (1910 GMT)

LONDON (CNN) -- The latest intense diplomatic Northern Ireland peace talks have raised hopes in many quarters that finally, after decades of sectarian violence and more than 3,000 deaths, there may be a solution at hand to bring lasting peace to the British province.

The conflict once seemed to be a relentless road of violence, with Protestant and Catholic paramilitaries fanatically pursuing their deadly missions, and politicians regularly failing in their efforts to end the bloodshed.

But then, in December 1993, there was a defining moment when British Prime Minister John Major announced a message from London: "There is no future in violence."

Major and Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds joined forces to launch a new political initiative for peace in Northern Ireland, raising hopes that, maybe, a resolution might not be that far away.

A labor of Sisyphus

Those hopes got a further boost in late 1994, when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Protestant paramilitaries declared their respective cease-fires -- the first such truce in the entrenched conflict in 20 years.

But that promising start ultimately fell victim to Britain's domestic politics and the broken cease-fires of the IRA.

"Things could perhaps have been achieved a lot more quickly," Brendan O'Leary of the London School of Economics told CNN. "What has occurred since ... has been somewhat akin to a labor of Sisyphus: very, very slow movement with multiple setbacks."

It took the elections of new governments in London and Dublin almost a year ago to revive the peace process and bring the IRA back into the political arena.

Analysts say there was also a growing sense among the leaders of the IRA and its political wing Sinn Fein that it was finally time to shift gears.

"In the late 1980s and in the early 1990s, republicans embarked on a different political strategy. They believed that by switching from militarism to politics they stood to gain electorally and they stood to gain political concessions from the British government," O'Leary said.

Trimble, Mitchell became key players

On the Protestant Unionist side of the equation, there was an important change in leadership: The younger and more flexible David Trimble took over the helm of the Ulster Unionist Party with the overwhelming support of his constituents, who account for the majority of the province's voters.

"David Trimble is, always has been and will remain key to this, because no matter what the two governments may wish, unless David Trimble can sell it successfully to his supporters, to Ulster Unionists, you are not going to get any broad-based agreement," Bernard Purcell of the Irish Independent told CNN.

Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell was the architect of what some consider the most dramatic phase of the peace process when he managed the previously impossible. After 25 years of negotiation efforts, he succeeded in bringing together representatives of the Protestant and Catholic factions -- both moderates and extremists.

Mitchell's success in getting both sides to discuss their views on the future of Northern Ireland generated a greater-than-ever public expectation, in Northern Ireland and Great Britain, that a political settlement of the conflict in the British province was indeed possible.

Observers say both London and Dublin hope this translates into political success for the eight parties involved in the talks that are winding down at Stormont Castle in Belfast.

"The two governments are pretty unapologetic about that, because it is an attempt to keep them in the process and make them realize that anybody who would be seen to be responsible for the breakdown of talks this time, however fairly or unfairly, would not be forgiven by the public," Purcell said.

Correspondent Margaret Lowrie contributed to this report.

 
rule

Message board:

Related stories:

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

Infoseek search  

Message Boards Sound off on our
message boards & chat
Back to the top

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.