Sinn Fein Makes No Promises on Britain’s Peace Proposal

LONDON —  Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army, gave its first formal reply to December’s Anglo-Irish peace plan Sunday but made no reference to a cease-fire in Northern Ireland or ending terrorist violence.

In closing a party conference in the Irish Republic’s County Donegal, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams declared, “The declaration does not deal adequately with some of the core issues, and this is crucial.

“The declaration is a step in the peace process--not a solution. We must look forward to the next steps.”

December’s Downing Street Declaration offered Sinn Fein a seat at the peace table if the IRA observes a three-month cease-fire in the province--which has been racked by sectarian violence for 25 years.

Hopes had been raised in some quarters that Sinn Fein and Adams might respond positively to get peace talks moving; the party and IRA members had been “studying” the declaration for seven months.

Adams told the 800 conference delegates that the IRA would have to make up its own mind on the future conduct of the armed campaign against British authorities.

“We are not the IRA,” Adams said, “but we have helped to formulate proposals which have been enough to move the IRA publicly to say that if the political will exists it could provide the basis for peace.”

Adams simply restated previous positions, saying he would like to see a “negotiated settlement” so the “people of Ireland can leave conflict behind us and build a lasting peace.”

Adams and the IRA insist that the stated goal in negotiations be a united Ireland, while the British government says that the future of Ulster still rests with a majority of the residents--and that majority remains Protestant unionist.

The Sinn Fein meeting seemed to retard any progress in the peace talks.

David Winnick, a Labor member of Parliament and vice chairman of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body, said Sunday night that he was “bitterly disappointed” by Sinn Fein’s response to the Downing Street Declaration.

“This will obviously mean continued terrorist violence both by the IRA and the loyalist murder gangs carrying out tit-for-tat killings,” Winnick said.