US special adviser on NI says the peace process has parallels or suggestions for other conflicts. The key to success in Northern Ireland will be providing "a warm house for all who live there", Richard Haass tells Paul Gillespie, Foreign Editor.
Mr Richard Haass, President Bush's main adviser on Northern Ireland, believes the peace process will be unable to go forward "unless a majority in both communities is supportive". Unless both are satisfied neither will be content.
In an interview with The Irish Times in Dublin yesterday, he said political leaderships in the North and outside it must stop being "only critical and stop seeing everything in terms of whether it's good for only one community". This presents a real challenge for leadership, because so often "it speaks principally to its base - here's what's in it for you". The next test for leadership, even for statesmanship is "here's what's in it not simply for you, but for the other fellow".
Mr Haass met the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, in Dublin before going on to London and Belfast today. He said his speech in New York last week calling for a recognition that the fates of the two communities in the North are tied together is a development, not a change, in US policy.
In that speech he spoke of "new paradigms and new realities" now that the Belfast Agreement has been consolidated by functioning institutions, decommissioning, demilitarisation and a new police service.
"Today, the analogy of the US civil rights movement long used to describe the situation in Northern Ireland disguises more than it informs," he said.
What some see as the "removal of symbols of oppression, others see as a stripping away of their identity". Quoting the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Mr John Reid's warning that Northern Ireland must not become "a cold place for Protestants", Mr Haass said "quite simply, what is needed is a warm house for all who live there".
Mr Haass said yesterday his message is directed primarily at political leaders in Northern Ireland, who have the lion's share of responsibility, but also to the Irish and British governments. His present trip was planned long before the recent violence and is not a response to it.
Its purpose is to "take stock and see if there's any way I can impart some momentum to this peace process. I think one of the things we have learned over the past couple of years is that it is almost like an animal which walks on all its legs. All components need to move forward together", whether on demilitarisation, decommissioning, the institutions and the new police service. He expects to visit Ireland every few months.
On decommissioning, Mr Haass said he "tends not to be a great believer in deadlines". It is more important "that it continues to happen and unfold gradually, so that more and more weapons are put beyond use. The fact that it was done once was welcome, but it was also insufficient. It needs to be done again and again and it needs to be done regularly. There really is no place for arms in a political process". He recognises the tremendous symbolism involved, which he described in his New York speech as "an enormous step in the evolution to peaceful politics" and "a critical shift in the republican mindset".
He described September 11th as "one of those days in history when events were so powerful and so stark that it forced people to take stock and confront issues in a way people were unable or unwilling to do before - it got rid of a lot of the grey in life".
It made clear that "violence in the name of politics, however you dressed it up, is unacceptable. President Bush said there is no such thing as good terrorism, that you're either with us or against us. What all that is meant to do is to underscore the unacceptability of promoting political aims with violent means, and Northern Ireland is no exception. What I would hope is that some good came of the awfulness of that day, in that it has created a political environment which is simply less tolerant of terrorism". This applies in Britain and Ireland, and also for Americans who may have been willing to countenance violence or see it as in some way justified. "I think that came to a sudden end, and hopefully here as well".
Mr Haass criticised Mr Gerry Adams's recent trip to Cuba as "unfortunate and ill-advised". He regards Castro's Cuba as an anachronism. He is hard pressed to understand why Sinn Féin or anyone else would want to associate with a government and a leadership that has stood against the democratic tide.
"It really is the odd man out, it's the only country in the western hemisphere that has nothing to do with democracy and markets".
IRA and Sinn Féin contacts with Colombia are something different, he says. The US spoke out quite bluntly and clearly about the subject before September 11th, and with crystal clarity after it, about the importance of the IRA having nothing to do with terrorism anywhere.
"Colombia is a place of particular concern for us, given the American exposure there, the large number of Americans on the ground, the consequences of Colombia for US vital national interests. It's a particularly sensitive concern for us." But he is confident the IRA understands US policy on the subject.
Mr Haass says he is intrigued at how often people refer to Northern Ireland elsewhere, in the Middle East, for example, Afghanistan, South Asia and Cyprus, where he has been involved arising from his job as Director of Policy Planning in the State Department. It is seen as a conflict where there has been some success.
EACH violent conflict may appear to be intractable but may not be violent forever. In that there may be some glimmer of hope or optimism. Northern Ireland may also have some parallels or suggestions to make for other conflicts.
Quite ingeniously, the Belfast Agreement wove together obligations between the British and Irish governments, within the North and created special relationships between the North and South. "There may be some ideas that can be borrowed from this that might make sense in other contexts. Both by the design of the peace process here as well as by its implementation, Northern Ireland may have something to offer to the individuals involved in some of these other disputes."
One of the reasons people look to Northern Ireland is that diplomacy here has gone further as a model and an inspiration.
That "makes it all the more frustrating right now when you see the sort of violence over the past few days. And it also makes the lack of public support for the Belfast Agreement all the more baffling".
The remaining part of this interview, dealing with international affairs, will appear in the World View column on Saturday.