Clinton hits it out with people

By Hasan Suroor

BELFAST, DEC. 14. It is just as well that the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton's peace efforts in Northern Ireland were overshadowed by more dramatic developments back home because they helped to shift the spotlight away from the disappointing outcome of his talks here.

His discussions with political leaders, who hold the key to the peace process, did not yield any tangible result, though officials tried to put an optimistic gloss saying that the thaw had been broken and it would take sometime for results to show. Apparently, neither the Republicans nor the Unionists gave a firm assurance that would break the deadlock. Mr. Clinton is understood to have spoken firmly to the Sinn Fein about the absolute necessity to show progress on arms decommissioning by the IRA. He wanted all arms to be put ``finally, fully and for ever beyond use.'' At the same time, his message to the British Government was (the PM, Mr. Tony Blair was present at the meeting) to address the Republicans' concerns over new policing arrangements.

The expectation is that the parties concerned will mull over Mr. Clinton's advice and start doing something about it. In a public speech, applauded by over 6,000 people, Mr. Clinton made a passionate appeal for peace saying peace would determine ``how your kids are gonna live.'' He hinted at the difficulties pointing out that it is ``always easier to talk about high-minded change than to pull it off.''

There is no doubt that his visit helped the warring groups to relax, and get the smiles back on their faces. As for Mr. Clinton, he was a runaway success with the people of Belfast - and he promised to come back to ensure that peace was not lost.

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Section  : International
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