Clinton to visit Ireland today

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, DEC. 11. The U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, arrives in Dublin on Tuesday on the first leg of his three-day visit to the region to get the stalled Northern Ireland peace process moving again, though neither the Unionists nor the Republicans are particularly optimistic about the outcome. Officially, too, the advice is not too read too much into the visit even as it is noted that his sheer presence might have a ``soothing'' effect on the increasingly frayed tempers.

There is no formal agenda for talks either in Dublin or Belfast and indications are that Mr Clinton would meet the representatives of various parties informally, listen to their viewpoints and appeal to them to reconcile their differences in the larger interest of peace. He is also expected to appeal to the Real IRA - the extremist faction which has broken off with the IRA and is opposed to the Good Friday Agreement - to renounce violence which incidentally has escalated in the past few weeks. The Northern Ireland secretary, Mr. Peter Mandelson, has in fact warned of possible attacks by the Real IRA ahead of Christmas. ``The threat is real'', he told a newspaper on Sunday.

In Dublin, Mr. Clinton will discuss the situation with the Irish Prime Minister, Mr. Bertie Ahern, who has been working closely with the British Government to keep the Good Friday Agreement alive. On Wednesday, Mr. Clinton will arrive in Belfast and spend the day trying to kickstart the peace process with a little help from the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony

Blair. He will wind up his visit with an audience with the Queen in London on Thursday in between talks with Mr. Blair. It is understood that while in his meeting with the Sinn Fein leaders he would try to impress upon them the need to get the IRA to start disarming, he would appeal to the Unionists to revoke the bar on the Sinn Fein Ministers attending meetings of cross- border bodies. The ban was imposed by the Ulster Unionist Chief, Mr. David Trimble, a few weeks ago to pressure the Sinn Fein on the issue of arms decommissioning by the IRA.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mandelson has praised Mr. Clinton's contribution to the peace efforts saying he (Mr. Clinton) had gone ``way beyond the call of duty'' to help bring about the Good Friday Agreement. ``He has a depth of knowledge, an understanding and ability to attune himself to what's happening in Northern Ireland'', he told The Independent on Sunday in an interview.

His remarks come on the heels of a controversy over his reported statement allegedly doubting the U.S. presidential hopeful, Mr. George W. Bush's impartiality on Northern Ireland and suggesting that he was partial to the Sinn Fein. Mr. Mandelson has since denied making any critical remarks about Mr. Bush.

The Labour Government sees Mr. Clinton as a partner in the Northern Ireland peace efforts, and is concerned that after his departure from the White House next month, the issue is not likely to interest Washington to the same degree, if at all.

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