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Old foes elected in Northern Ireland
2007-05-08
Protestant leader Ian Paisley, who spent decades refusing to cooperate with Northern Ireland's Catholic minority, was elected Tuesday to oversee a power-sharing administration alongside his longtime Sinn Fein foes. The unopposed election of Democratic Unionist Party chief Paisley and Irish Republican Army veteran Martin McGuinness to lead a new 12-member administration heralded an astonishing new era for Northern Ireland following decades of bloodshed and political stalemate that left 3,700 dead. Paisley, 81, immediately affirmed an oath pledging to cooperate with Catholics and the government of the neighboring Republic of Ireland -- moves that the evangelical firebrand had long denounced as surrender. Seconds later, Sinn Fein deputy leader McGuinness accepted the No. 2 post of deputy first minister. McGuinness, 56, affirmed the same oath, which required all ministers to support the Northern Ireland police and British courts -- a position that Sinn Fein refused for decades to accept. Within a few more minutes, all 12 power-sharing positions were filled on the basis of how many seats each party holds in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Paisley's Democratic Unionists took five Cabinet positions, Sinn Fein four, while the moderate Protestants of the Ulster Unionists received two and the moderate Catholics of the Social Democratic and Labour Party just one. The assembly quickly adjourned to mingle with a jubilant crowd of dignitaries and well-wishers in the grand foyer of the Stormont Parliamentary Building. There, the audience was treated to back-to-back speeches by Paisley, McGuinness and the British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, who had watched the rise of power-sharing from the public gallery. Paisley, a Christian evangelist who leads his own church, quoted King Solomon's teachings that all societies faced a time to kill and a time to heal, a time for war and a time for peace. "From the depths of my heart I can say to you today: 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 said they had "astounded the skeptics" and would govern Northern Ireland for the good of both sides of the community. "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. Blair, who is widely expected to announce his resignation from office later this week, said Ireland had suffered "centuries pockmarked by conflict, hardship and hatred." He said Belfast power-sharing offered the chance "at last to escape those heavy chains of history." Blair and Ahern paid fulsome tribute to the leadership of Paisley and Sinn Fein -- but particularly to each other. "Bertie has always been there, willing to surmount another obstacle ... Bertie, thank you," he said to Ahern, who is facing a tough May 24 election to remain in power. Ahern said peace in Northern Ireland could not have been established without Blair's exceptional hands-on involvement in coaxing the two sides together. Ahern said the British leader "has been a true friend of peace and a true friend of Ireland." He praised Blair for "the true determination that he had, for just sticking with it, for 10 tough years." Earlier, McGuinness and Paisley sat down in separate armchairs at a small living room-style table, while Blair and Ahern shared a crowded sofa with Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain. A live television feed beamed the first few, largely awkward minutes of their conversation, which was dominated by Paisley. McGuinness did not manage an audible word. Blair spoke, but largely as the straight man to Paisley's quips. Paisley, referring to Blair's imminent departure from Downing Street, noted to laughter all around: "As you're going out as a young man, I'm coming in as a granddad!" When the British leader noted how friendly Northern Ireland people were, despite their bitter political situation, Paisley shot back: "I wonder why people hate me, because I'm such a nice man!" Both Paisley and McGuinness have spent time behind bars for their past extremist paths. Analysts agree that both, in different ways, have blood on their hands today. Paisley, a bombastic orator who leads his own virulently anti-Catholic church, was imprisoned in 1969 for leading an illegal demonstration against Catholic marchers demanding equal rights in voting, housing and employment. His strident, stubborn invective fanned the flames of Protestant mob violence and helped to delay by decades today's historic compromise. McGuinness, a high school dropout from Londonderry who rose to become the city's IRA commander, served two short 1970s sentences for IRA membership -- and spent many years more on the run while serving in the IRA's ruling "army council," the seven-man committee ultimately responsible for killing nearly 1,800 people and maiming thousands more. Power-sharing was a central goal of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday peace accord of 1998, but Blair and Ahern since have had to lead several summits aimed at coaxing local leaders of the British Protestant majority and Irish Catholic minority together. A four-party coalition led by moderate Protestants and Catholics took power in December 1999 but repeatedly broke down amid confrontations between Protestants and Sinn Fein. It collapsed for good in October 2002 over allegations that the IRA was using Sinn Fein's position inside government to pilfer files and other intelligence on potential targets. McGuinness served as education minister in that coalition. Paisley, who once campaigned on a slogan of "Smash Sinn Fein," permitted two of his deputies to take part -- but not to sit in Cabinet meetings because of McGuinness' presence. When 2003 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly produced twin triumphs for Paisley's Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein, it appeared to cripple prospects for revived power-sharing. But prospects were been transformed by the IRA's 2005 decisions to disarm and renounce violence, and Sinn Fein's vote in January to open normal relations with the Northern Ireland police. Paisley stunned Northern Ireland on March 26 by appearing live on television beside Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams -- barely an hour after the two men negotiated together for the first time -- to declare a deal. "I see today very much as fulfilling the wishes of all the people of Ireland," McGuinness said.
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