AP News, December 30th, 2006
Sinn Fein leaders voted Friday to convene an emergency conference and confront a pivotal issue in Northern Ireland peacemaking _ whether the IRA-linked party should support the police.
The move followed months of stalemate with Protestant leaders, who insist they will form a power-sharing government _ the central goal of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord _ only if the Catholics of Sinn Fein dump their anti-police policy in the British territory. Power-sharing collapsed four years ago amid conflicts between Protestants and Sinn Fein.
In a significant qualification, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the conference would proceed only if the move received a sufficiently positive response from the Democratic Unionists, the major Protestant-backed party. It will likely be held in late January.
"The debate was frank, comradely and robust," Adams said after the meeting at a hotel near Dublin Airport.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said the conference represented "a defining moment in the peace process. A successful outcome is vital to the continuing success of this process."
Sinn Fein said its motion, if passed, would commit the party's members to "actively encourage everyone in the community to cooperate fully with the police services in tackling crime in all areas and actively supporting all the criminal justice institutions."
The predominantly Protestant territory, formed in 1921 shortly before the overwhelmingly Catholic rest of Ireland won independence from Britain, never received Catholic support for its Protestant-dominated government and police force. Britain began deploying troops as peacekeepers in 1969 to stop street clashes between Catholic rioters and Protestant police.
