N. Ireland Urged To Embrace Democracy

The British and Irish prime ministers urged all parties in the Northern Ireland peace process Friday to cut ties with paramilitary groups.

Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, who met on the Channel island of Jersey to discuss the state of the peace process, said they would not allow violence to take hold again in the British territory.

Their meeting followed allegations the Irish Republican Army was continuing to develop weapons, and fresh evidence of collusion between Protestant paramilitaries and the security forces.

Paramilitary groups are suspected of being behind the sectarian trouble in parts of Belfast this month, with Catholics and Protestants engaged in gun battles and hand-to-hand fighting.

In a possibly significant step, an umbrella body of Protestant paramilitary groups pledged Friday not to initiate fresh street violence in Belfast.

In a statement, the Loyalist Commission said its members "will not initiate any action against republican communities, reaffirming their policy of no first strike." It also called for an end to attacks on the security forces, and urged Catholics to make a similar gesture.

Gerry Kelly, a senior official of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party, said if the statement "is a sign that loyalist groups are going to end their campaign then it is obviously a welcome step," but said previous statements of this kind have often been followed by attacks on Catholic homes.

Blair said all parties must embrace democracy wholeheartedly.

"There is not a halfway house to democracy," Blair said. "There is no acceptable level of paramilitary activity."

He said the two governments "are trying to move Northern Ireland away from paramilitary activity of any kind and it is not acceptable to have targeting (of sectarian victims), the procurement of weapons and other paramilitary activity."

Ahern urged all those with influence in hard-line communities to try to ease the tensions.

On Thursday, the British Broadcasting Corp. quoted unidentified security sources as saying the IRA was testing new rockets and other weapons in Colombia, where three suspected IRA members were arrested on Aug. 11. They are accused of working with FARC rebels inside Colombia.

The IRA responded with a statement denying any illegal activity in Colombia, and accused security sources of trying to undermine the peace process.

However, the report provoked calls from some Protestant politicians for the IRA's political allies in the Sinn Fein party to be ejected from Northern Ireland's regional government.

On Friday, The Guardian newspaper said an official investigation police force found evidence of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and individuals within the army and the anti-terrorist Special Branch of the police.

The report, which has yet to be published, was prepared by Sir John Stevens, head of London's Metropolitan Police, The Guardian said.

The 1998 peace accord created a joint Catholic-Protestant government, but the breakthrough did little to ease traditional hatreds and suspicions in Belfast's front-line communities.

By Sue Leeman