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Parliament] N.Ireland Hangs on Blair Suspension Ruling Thu Oct 10,10:20 AM ET By Andrew Cawthorne LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) tried on Thursday to put a brave face on the worst crisis yet in Northern Ireland's fledgling peace process as he pondered whether to suspend its government over a spy scandal. Reuters Photo Reuters Slideshow: Northern Ireland Conflict N. Ireland Assembly Suspension Likely Option (Reuters Video) "We are back in a situation where we have got another crisis to overcome," he said, after the last in three days of meetings with key political leaders of the British-ruled province's divided Catholic and Protestant communities. "Well, we have had crises to overcome before, we will overcome it and we will move forward," he added in an interview with ITV television. Blair, who has staked considerable political capital and personal prestige on trying to end decades of conflict in Northern Ireland, met earlier on Thursday with the leaders of Sinn Fein, the political ally of the IRA guerrilla movement. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams urged Blair not to suspend the power-sharing assembly, set up under the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, amid the furor which blew up last week with police accusations of Catholic republican spying. "To suspend the institutions once again would be a mistake," Adams told reporters. "This would be the fourth time. It would characterize the institutions as being optional extras, as being ad hoc -- something that is given or taken away given the ability or inability of unionism to live with whatever is happening." Northern Ireland's Protestant unionist leader David Trimble has threatened to walk out of government next week unless London expels Sinn Fein from the assembly. BLAIR STAYING TIGHT-LIPPED The crisis erupted on Friday when police raided Sinn Fein's parliamentary office after reports an IRA spying operation had infiltrated the Belfast headquarters of British ministers. Unionists say the incident shows republicans' bad faith, but Sinn Fein says it was a set-up by elements in the British establishment and Northern Ireland's Protestant community opposed to the Good Friday agreement. The accord was intended to end three decades of bloody conflict in the British-ruled province of 1.6 million people. Britain has to decide in the next few days between expelling Sinn Fein, calling new elections to the assembly or re-imposing direct rule. The latter option is widely predicted, as kicking out Sinn Fein is seen as an over-inflammatory measure and elections -- due anyway in May next year -- could well result in moderate, pro-accord parties losing out to radicals on both sides of the Protestant-Catholic political divide. Blair would not be drawn on the impending decision. "We will make our decision on that in the next few days, but there are still conversations that we have got to have with people before we get to that stage," he told ITV. Pushed in an interview about an eventual IRA disbanding, Adams said in principle he was in favor of that but not in the short-term. "Making the demand that it happen by Christmas is a bit like waiting for Santa Claus," he told BBC radio. Britain has briefly suspended the devolved government in response to crises three times since 1999, giving it time to bring the squabbling factions together again. But this time the gulf between unionists and republicans looks further than ever. -- Additional reporting by Sinead O'Hanlon in London. --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
