03/26/2007
The long-polarized rivals of Northern Ireland politics, Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams, held their first face-to-face negotiations Monday in a stunning breakthrough for Northern Ireland peacemaking.
The historic ice-breaker came on the day that Britain long billed as an "unbreakable" deadline for a Catholic-Protestant administration to be formed.
Instead, Britain prepared ready to extend the deadline to May so that Paisley - who, despite 14 years of peacemaking, until now has refused to talk directly with Adams' Sinn Fein - could begin talks designed to forge a common platform for coalition government.
Earlier, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said he would feel no embarrassment about dumping his deadline if it spurred Paisley finally to open normal relations with his would-be government partners. "This is about progress and success," Hain said.
"We may be about to see today another one of those 'never going to happen' moments.'' "We're very hopeful that progress can be made," the Sinn Fein chairwoman, Mary Lou McDonald, said as the talks began between Paisley, 80, and Adams, 58.
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