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Peace in Northern Ireland?
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12138 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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3 / 1994 |
2,240 Words |
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DOWNING STREET DECLARATION
UNITED STATES--Good news, in the form of a joint statement from 10 Downing Street, was announced by British Prime Minister John Major and his Irish counterpart, Albert Reynolds. The two leaders have agreed on a framework for peace, an outline of proposals to end the violence in Northern Ireland and to settle, by a vote of the people concerned, the political fate of the province.
As is true in the Middle East, not all the warring factions in this age-old conflict will immediately accept the goodwill or the authority of the peacemakers who lead each side. But for the first time in years, the IRA appears to be weary of the bloodshed and ready to talk. Terrorists on the other side, who this year have killed more Catholics than the IRA has killed Protestants, may also relent if the perceived need for retaliation abates.
Washington Post
December 17, 1993
TEARS ENOUGH IN NORTHERN IRELAND
UNITED STATES--Much of what Northern Ireland calls "the Troubles" is rooted in words. The search for the right phrases is what delayed the welcome joint declaration agreed upon by the British and Irish Governments.
Its principles are not new, but in proposing a framework for peace, the declaration breaks fresh ground. Words alone won't end a 25-year conflict that has taken 3,000 lives. But now they can make the mutual slaughter harder to justify. . . .
Past failures caution against optimism, but both Prime Ministers sense an opportunity in near-universal revulsion over recent bloodlettings. The temperate response of the North's mainstream Unionist party to the declaration suggests that it has correctly read a changing mood among the North's Protestants. The gunmen have not been silenced, but they have been weakened. Mr. Reynolds put the case movingly: "Violence in Northern Ireland has led to walls of wilted flowers and an eternity of tears." There have been tears enough.
New York Times
December 18, 1993
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