Click Here For History Between 1970 and 1998

July 2, 1999 Blair unveils the "way forward" document proposing that IRA disarmament commence days after the Cabinet's formation. Trimble rejects it.

Nov. 18, 1999 Mitchell brokers a plan that requires Ulster Unionists to accept Sinn Fein in Cabinet, Sinn Fein to pledge disarmament is "essential" and the IRA to start cooperating with disarmament commission.

Dec. 2, 1999 Ulster Unionists, Social Democratic and Labor Party and Sinn Fein sit down around the same Cabinet table, but members of the fourth coalition - the Democratic Unionists - boycott the meeting but accept the cabinet posts.

Feb. 11, 2000 With the Ulster Unionists about to withdraw from Cabinet, the British government resumes direct rule. A last-minute IRA offer on disarmament is deemed too vague to prevent suspension of power-sharing.

May 5, 2000 After intense negotiations involving Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein, Britain and Ireland call for power-sharing to resume May 22 and for the disarmament deadline to be extended to June 2001.

June 2000 Claiming that Britain has not held up its end of the agreement, the IRA says it will no longer negotiate with the disarmament panel.

December 2000 Then-President Clinton visits Ireland in an attempt to restart the peace negotiations. But the stalemate continues.

March 8, 2001 The IRA says it will resume talks on the process of turning over its weapons. Ulster Unionists say the announcement is a ploy.

July 1, 2001 Protestant David Trimble resigns as senior minister of the Northern Ireland coalition government, saying he'll return only if the IRA permanently disarms. Seamus Mallon, a top Catholic politician, supports his demand.

Oct. 24, 2001 The IRA begins to disarm. The main Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, agrees to rejoin the province's Protestant-Catholic government. Britain says it will scale back its military presence in Northern Ireland.

Nov. 2, 2001 Protestant hard-liners, led by the Rev. Ian Paisley, block David Trimble's re-election as first minister of the unity government, putting Northern Ireland's peace process in jeopardy. Four days later, Trimble is returned to power. Key planks of the 1998 peace accord appear to be falling into place.

July 7, 2002 The most volatile week of the marching season begins with rioting during the annual confrontation between Protestant hard-liners and police outside Portadown. Three protesters and 24 policemen are injured, and five rioters are arrested.

July 16, 2002 The IRA apologizes for the deaths of "noncombatants" over the past 30 years of violence, an unprecedented statement aimed at improving the atmosphere in the territory's peace process. The guerilla group is believed to have caused the deaths of 640 civilians during the conflict.

Oct. 15, 2002 The Catholic-Protestant administration is stripped of its power, with Britain resuming sole control over the province indefinitely. The move is aimed at preventing the coalition from collapsing under a planned walkout by one of the four power-sharing parties, the Ulster Unionists. Observers said this was the best option for saving the peace process' linchpin, but also its sternest test.

April 10, 2003 In an unexpected diplomatic defeat, Britain and Ireland postpone issuing their plan for promoting Northern Ireland's peace accord and reviving a power-sharing government. Aides to the British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, say they changed plans after receiving indications that the Irish Republican Army is not prepared to make sufficient peacemaking gestures in return.

Oct. 21, 2003 Britain sets a Nov. 26 election date for the Northern Ireland Assembly, a move which could pave the way for restoration of a Catholic-Protestant administration. The Irish Republican Army responds to the announcement by confirming it has disposed of more weapons. However, the outlaw group gives no details on how many weapons were discarded or how it took place.

Dec. 8, 2004 British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern say a deal to revive the Catholic-Protestant power-sharing government which was halted in 2002 is close, and publish a detailed plan. Blair says Sinn Fein leaders have agreed the IRA will fully disarm by Christmas, although whether their disarmament will be photographed is cited as a sticking point that may jeopardize the deal.

July 28, 2005 In a dramatic step to revive peace efforts, the IRA renounces violence as a political weapon and says it will resume disarmament. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern says the move heralds "the end of the IRA as a paramilitary organization." Others say questions about the plan remain, and note that the organization plans to continue its existence.

Sept. 12, 2005 Crowds of Protestants blocked key roads in Belfast and thousands of police equipped with shields and plastic-bullet guns stood ready for a third night of rioting in the capital. At least 50 officers were wounded when extremists fought riot police and British troops over a restricted parade in the worst Protestant violence in a decade.

Sept. 26, 2005 John de Chastelain, the Canadian general who has supervised the process since 1997, says the IRA has given up its entire arsenal of weapons, demonstrating that its 35-year campaign to overthrow Northern Ireland by force is really over. Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, is not persuaded.

May 8, 2007 Bitter enemies from Northern Ireland's bloody past join forces atop a new Northern Ireland government, a once-unimaginable achievement that both sides pledged would consign decades of death and destruction to history. Bombastic Protestant evangelist Ian Paisley forms an administration with Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness, a veteran commander in the outlawed Irish Republican Army.

March 9, 2009 Irish Republican Army splinter group The Continuity IRA said in a message to Belfast media that it carried out the fatal shooting of a policeman in a religiously divided town southwest of Belfast — 48 hours after the killing of two British soldiers claimed by the Real IRA. The killings appeared designed to undermine Northern Ireland's unity government as its leaders prepared to leave for a high-profile U.S. tour capped by their first meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House on St. Patrick's Day.