Post by ocelot on May 8, 2007 15:57:39 GMT -5
Historic power sharing begins in Northern Ireland
Updated Tue. May. 8 2007 2:30 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A new era in Northern Ireland began on Tuesday, as Protestants and Catholics formed a long-unthinkable alliance in a new power-sharing government.
Ian Paisley, 81, leader of the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party, and Martin McGuinness, 56, deputy leader of Sinn Fein, were sworn in to lead a new 12-member cabinet.
The remaining cabinet seats were quickly filled on the basis of how many seats each party holds in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Democratic Unionists took five cabinet positions; Sinn Fein four; the moderate Protestants of the Ulster Unionists received two and the moderate Catholics of the Social Democratic and Labour Party took the final seat.
Paisley, who refused to co-operate with Northern Ireland's Catholic minority for decades, decided he was ready to lead Northern Ireland in peace.
"From the depths of my heart, I believe Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule. How good it will be to be part of a wonderful healing in this province," Paisley said.
McGuinness, who holds the number two position but the same amount of power as Paisley in the new cabinet, said they had "astounded the skeptics" and would govern Northern Ireland for the good of both Catholics and Protestants.
"To Ian Paisley, I want to wish you the best as we step forward into the greatest and most exciting challenge of our lives," he said.
As part of the agreement, McGuinness pledged to support the police and British courts.
Northern Ireland was plagued by violence and a political stalemate for decades. The violent conflict left more than 3,700 people dead.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern witnessed the creation of the new cabinet along with U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and his sister, former ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith.
"This is an extraordinary example that Northern Ireland is showing to the world, that you can disband militias and private armies, and put away the bomb and bullet," the senator said, referring to the IRA's 2005 decisions to renounce violence and disarm.
The only conflict of the day arose when police clashed with anti-Iraq war protesters objecting to Tony Blair's presence. Three officers were injured and three demonstrators arrested.
Power-sharing was a central goal of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday peace accord of 1998.
Blair and Ahern led several summits after the agreement was signed in an attempt to coax local leaders of the British Protestant majority and Irish Catholic minority together in peace.
Blair said the new power-sharing cabinet offered the chance "at last to escape those heavy chains of history."
Paisley, who leads his own anti-Catholic church, went to prison in 1969 for organizing an illegal protest against Catholic marchers fighting for voting rights, housing and employment.
McGuinness, a high school dropout who became an IRA commander, went to prison twice in the 1970s for his membership in the IRA.
He also served in the IRA's ruling army council, a group that oversaw the violent struggle for control of Northern Ireland that killed an estimated 1,800 people and wounded thousands more.
A four-party coalition led by moderate Protestants and Catholics took power in December 1999, but collapsed several times amid confrontations between Protestants and Sinn Fein.
It permanently broke down in October 2002 over allegations that the IRA was using Sinn Fein's government position to access intelligence files on potential targets.
Updated Tue. May. 8 2007 2:30 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A new era in Northern Ireland began on Tuesday, as Protestants and Catholics formed a long-unthinkable alliance in a new power-sharing government.
Ian Paisley, 81, leader of the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party, and Martin McGuinness, 56, deputy leader of Sinn Fein, were sworn in to lead a new 12-member cabinet.
The remaining cabinet seats were quickly filled on the basis of how many seats each party holds in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Democratic Unionists took five cabinet positions; Sinn Fein four; the moderate Protestants of the Ulster Unionists received two and the moderate Catholics of the Social Democratic and Labour Party took the final seat.
Paisley, who refused to co-operate with Northern Ireland's Catholic minority for decades, decided he was ready to lead Northern Ireland in peace.
"From the depths of my heart, I believe Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule. How good it will be to be part of a wonderful healing in this province," Paisley said.
McGuinness, who holds the number two position but the same amount of power as Paisley in the new cabinet, said they had "astounded the skeptics" and would govern Northern Ireland for the good of both Catholics and Protestants.
"To Ian Paisley, I want to wish you the best as we step forward into the greatest and most exciting challenge of our lives," he said.
As part of the agreement, McGuinness pledged to support the police and British courts.
Northern Ireland was plagued by violence and a political stalemate for decades. The violent conflict left more than 3,700 people dead.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern witnessed the creation of the new cabinet along with U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and his sister, former ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith.
"This is an extraordinary example that Northern Ireland is showing to the world, that you can disband militias and private armies, and put away the bomb and bullet," the senator said, referring to the IRA's 2005 decisions to renounce violence and disarm.
The only conflict of the day arose when police clashed with anti-Iraq war protesters objecting to Tony Blair's presence. Three officers were injured and three demonstrators arrested.
Power-sharing was a central goal of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday peace accord of 1998.
Blair and Ahern led several summits after the agreement was signed in an attempt to coax local leaders of the British Protestant majority and Irish Catholic minority together in peace.
Blair said the new power-sharing cabinet offered the chance "at last to escape those heavy chains of history."
Paisley, who leads his own anti-Catholic church, went to prison in 1969 for organizing an illegal protest against Catholic marchers fighting for voting rights, housing and employment.
McGuinness, a high school dropout who became an IRA commander, went to prison twice in the 1970s for his membership in the IRA.
He also served in the IRA's ruling army council, a group that oversaw the violent struggle for control of Northern Ireland that killed an estimated 1,800 people and wounded thousands more.
A four-party coalition led by moderate Protestants and Catholics took power in December 1999, but collapsed several times amid confrontations between Protestants and Sinn Fein.
It permanently broke down in October 2002 over allegations that the IRA was using Sinn Fein's government position to access intelligence files on potential targets.