Northern Ireland crisis
January 25, 2010
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen arrived in Belfast on Monday to help resolve a dispute within Northern Ireland's power-sharing government over autonomy from London.
The standoff is over the transference of policing and justice powers from the UK parliament to the Northern Irish assembly in Stormont. Sinn Fein, a Catholic party that supports an eventual united Ireland, has accused the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of attempting to stall the talks.
Negotiations on the power transfer broke down last week when Sinn Fein leaders walked out on the talks. The dispute threatens to disrupt a fragile peace agreement between Sinn Fein and the DUP which paved the way for their power-sharing deal.
Before arriving in Belfast, Brown and Cowen said they were optimistic their presence at the talks could help remove the impasse.
"We believe the problems that exist in devolving policing and justice are all soluble problems," Brown said. "We believe it is right for Northern Ireland to move forward in this way now, and we believe that together we can assist the completion of these talks."
Unproductive talks
Republican and pro-British leaders in Northern Ireland had met for talks in Belfast earlier Monday aimed at breaking the political deadlock, but those talks lasted less than an hour.
Martin McGuinness, who leads Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland and is the region's deputy first minister, said he was "frustrated" at his partners from the DUP, accusing the pro-British group of attempting to stall the talks.
Fears the dispute could turn into a political crisis have been heightened by a sex scandal involving the wife of DUP leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson. Robinson had agreed to temporarily step aside from his post over the matter, but is still leading negotiations for the DUP.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said over the weekend the talks would be a "critical and defining engagement.
"If [the transfer of justice powers] is not possible, then no self respecting public representative or political party would want to be part of what would be nothing less than a charade," Adams told reporters Saturday after a party executive meeting in Dublin.
Ireland's 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought peace to Northern Ireland after three decades of sectarian violence killed 3,600 people there.
dfm/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Nancy Isenson