N. Irish assembly back to business

Reid said his 24-hour suspension of assembly was only to buy more time

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly returned to work Monday morning following its brief suspension at the weekend.

John Reid, Britain's Northern Ireland secretary, suspended the assembly for 24 hours on Saturday to give the four parties of the ruling coalition more time to resolve their differences.

The suspension meant that a make-or-break vote on electing a new Protestant leader of the assembly could be postponed for six weeks, probably until September 24.

While it has bought more negotiating time, the suspension has aroused the wrath of republicans, with senior republican leaders warning that it has not only weakened the credibility of the institution, but also jeopardised the Irish Republican Army's commitment to disarm.

The IRA and a disarmament commission led by Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain announced last week they had agreed on a confidential means for putting the outlawed group's weapons "beyond use."

But Martin McGuinness, chief negotiator of Sinn Fein, the republican political party, said on Sunday the latest IRA move on disarmament "may indeed be jeopardised."

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McGuinness, a former IRA leader, blamed the Ulster Unionists, the major Protestant party, for the suspension. The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has refused to fill the government's vacated top post until the IRA actually starts to disarm as the Good Friday peace pact of 1998 intended.

UUP leader David Trimble resigned as first minister six weeks ago, saying the IRA had made too little progress in putting its weapons out of use.

Trimble has insisted that he will not put himself forward for re-election as first minister without IRA decommissioning taking place.

McGuinness told BBC television: "I do have to say that the unionists' rejection of General de Chastelain's determination and the suspension of the institutions may have caused a serious situation.

"I think that it in fact may have jeopardised the very important development of earlier this week."

But pro-British Unionists said they wanted action not promises from the IRA.

Reid said he regretted having had to strip local politicians of power for a single day. His only goal was "to buy more time, but that has to be time for a purpose," he said.

The move has created a breathing space during which London and Dublin will be working to persuade the feuding groups to compromise on issues such as arms, police reform and Britain's military presence.

Reid told BBC television: "We are tantalisingly close. This peace process in its final implementation is within our grasp.

"It is possible for us to tackle the longest-running problem in British and Irish history. I believe that the means by which we can tackle it have already been laid out."

But Sinn Fein argued the move had undermined the prized political institutions and accused the government of pandering to Unionists who say the IRA must physically disarm if they are to continue to sit in government with Sinn Fein.

The IRA in May 2000 issued an unprecedented pledge to begin putting weapons "completely and verifiably beyond use," but has followed through only by allowing international diplomats to visit a few arms dumps in secret. Last week it said it had agreed a plan for putting arms beyond use with the decommissioning body.

Sinn Fein has since argued that the IRA never intended to scrap weapons until after plans for military cutbacks and police reform were completed in Northern Ireland, a position rejected by all the other parties.