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Article: Disarming: Northern Ireland.(Northern Irish government calls for Irish Republican Army to disarm)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- March 11, 1995
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ACHIEVING a political settlement in Northern Ireland will be a slow and confusing business. For a long time to come, it is likely to have as much to do with semantics and symbolism as with real progress. On March 7th, Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Northern Ireland secretary, during a visit to Washington, called on the IRA to do three things: declare that it was willing to disarm "progressively"; agree a "common practical understanding" of what "decommissioning" arms would "entail"; and undertake "the actual decommissioning of some arms as a tangible confidence-building measure and to signal the start of a process."
What does this mean? Sir Patrick's immediate aim seemed to ...