'Brighter future for N Ireland'

2005-07-29 08:02

London - The IRA's decision to abandon its armed struggle in Northern Ireland is a historic moment, but the paramilitary group's words must swiftly be matched by action to make them credible, Britain's press noted on Friday.

Some papers also noted the apparent final end to terrorism in Northern Ireland came just as London was under sustained attack on another front via suicide blasts on trains and buses.

"War and peace" was the banner headline in The Sun, words respectively placed above pictures of an armed policewoman in London and an old photograph of a masked IRA gunman firing a pistol.

"A nightmare ends, another nightmare begins," was the apposite headline above a comment piece on page one of The Guardian.

False dawn?

The Irish Republican Army announced in a long-awaited statement on Thursday that it was ending all violence and would destroy weapons stocks, a move hailed by Britain, Ireland and the United States as "historic".

It was indeed, papers noted, but Northern Ireland has experienced false dawns before.

The destruction of the IRA's weapons stocks could be over and formally verified by the end of September, The Times reported, but also recalled that the equally historic 1998 Good Friday peace deal had become bogged down in recriminations.

These "followed decades, indeed centuries, of disputed history, and so it is natural that the IRA statement yesterday has not been received with universal rejoicing", the paper said in an editorial.

"It will take months, possible longer, before it becomes clear whether this is really an historic breakthrough."

The paper added: "Understandable scepticism should not, however, mean that the IRA's words are not taken seriously."

The Guardian took a similar line, noting also that the IRA had taken a long time following the 1998 peace deal to renounce violence.

"Eight years of prevarication, however understandable at the time, have left a fault-line of mistrust across the whole process of compromise and power-sharing," it said.

Other papers were more damning of the IRA, urging readers not to forget the violence it had perpetrated over 30 years.

"The cost of peace in Ulster," was the front page headline in The Daily Telegraph, alongside a column of sobering statistics from the decades of bloodshed such as 3 637 killed, 45 000 wounded and 15 300 bombs.

"We can never forget or forgive what they did. Yet we must concede that Northern Ireland's future is a good deal brighter today," it said in an editorial.

The Sun was blunter.

Similar scepticism was expressed on Thursday by Northern Ireland's biggest Protestant political group, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by veteran hardliner Ian Paisley.

"The onus is now on the IRA to prove that it is as good as its word," The Independent said.

- AFP