The Irish Republican Army must scrap its weapons in front of cameras or Protestant witnesses if Northern Ireland’s Catholic-Protestant government is to be saved, the province’s leading Protestant politician said Saturday. Ulster Unionist Party chief David Trimble, who faces strong Protestant opposition to working with the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, detailed his conditions for reviving power-sharing as Britain and Ireland pressed behind the scenes for a breakthrough. The British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, meet Monday to lead negotiations that are being billed as the last chance to repair the Ulster Unionist-Sinn Fein rift before a planned May election. Britain reportedly will offer new commitments on military cutbacks and police reform in hopes of winning concessions from the IRA, such as more disarmament and a clear-cut statement that the outlawed group has really renounced violence. But Trimble — who shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize for leading Protestants to support Northern Ireland’s Good Friday peace accord — said the IRA shouldn’t bother to decommission more weapons if the outlawed group insisted on secrecy. Full Story
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