Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Northern Ireland Agrees to Save Power-Sharing Deal

   VOA News 05 February 2010
   British  PM  Gordon  Brown  (L)  reacts with Peter Rosbinson, Northern
   Ireland  First  Minister  (C)  and  Martin McGuinness Northern Ireland
   Deputy First Minister at Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland, 05 Feb
   2010

Photo: AP

   British  PM  Gordon  Brown  (L)  reacts with Peter Rosbinson, Northern
   Ireland  First  Minister  (C)  and  Martin McGuinness Northern Ireland
   Deputy First Minister at Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland, 05 Feb
   2010

   The   British  and  Irish  prime  ministers  unveiled  a  breakthrough
   agreement  in  Northern  Ireland  Friday  that  saves  the  province's
   peacemaking coalition government of Catholics and Protestants.
   Gordon  Brown  and  his Irish counterpart, Brian Cowen, met in Belfast
   after  the  Democratic  Unionists, the region's main Protestant party,
   reached  an  agreement with Sinn Fein, the major Irish Catholic party,
   on transferring policing and judiciary powers from London to Belfast.
   The  transfer  of  powers to the local government is scheduled to take
   place by April 12.
   Prime Minister Brown said the accord is the opening of a "new chapter"
   in Northern Ireland's history.
   Sinn  Fein  had threatened to quit the power-sharing government during
   nearly  two weeks of talks with the Protestants, who wanted guarantees
   that  they  would  not  be restricted from holding parades celebrating
   17th-century  battle  victories.   Some  of those parades pass through
   Catholic   neighborhoods,   which  the  Catholics  call  a  deliberate
   provocation.
   In  Washington,  U.S.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed the
   agreement,  calling  it another important step toward "lasting peace."
   Clinton,   who   said  she  has  been  in  regular  contact  with  the
   negotiators,  applauded  both  parties  for choosing "negotiation over
   confrontation."
   Clinton's  husband,  former  President  Bill Clinton, is credited with
   helping  to  broker  the  original peace deal in 1998, called the Good
   Friday   Agreement,  that  helped  end  decades  of  deadly  sectarian
   violence.




   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

.