BY MARTIN HILL
LONDON - The British government has been unable to use a bombing here to derail the pressure for peace talks on the future of Ireland. "We are not at the end of the road to peace," British prime minister John Major told Parliament February 12, in a speech the New York Times described as "solemn" and "conciliatory." The February 9 explosion near the Canary Wharf office complex in east London killed two people and injured around 100. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) claimed responsibility for the blast, which went off 90 minutes after the group warned it was ending a year-and-a- half cease-fire.
The bombing occurred at a time of growing anger among Irish nationalists at the British government's delays in holding all-party talks on the future of Ireland. Less than two weeks earlier Major rejected the recommendations of the "Mitchell commission," which proposed all-party talks move ahead in parallel with "phased disarmament." London had demanded total "decommissioning" of the IRA before holding negotiations that included Sinn Fein, the leading party calling for an end to British domination of Northern Ireland.
Major countered the Mitchell report by proposing elections within the six counties of Northern Ireland, where the pro- British Unionist majority has been gerrymandered since 1921, to establish a Constitutional Convention. Sinn Fein, the Dublin government, and the Social Democratic and Labour Party all rejected this as a scheme to return to the hated sectarian Stormont regime that ruled the north in London's interests from 1921 to 1972.
Major's immediate stance after the bombing was to continue to push for the proposed elections in Northern Ireland and ban ministerial-level contacts with Sinn Fein. Irish prime minister John Bruton agreed to meet with Major about the election proposal. The Dublin government announced February 13, however, that it would resume formal contacts with Sinn Fein, which were halted briefly after the bombing.
In Washington, the Clinton administration said it would continue to meet with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and said it would not reconsider its approval of visas for Sinn Fein leaders to visit the United States.
Adams told Irish television, "Our efforts to build a peace settlement must be redoubled." Asked to condemn the bombing, the Sinn Fein leader said he did not have to make clear his party's commitment to the peace process. "The proof lies in the risks we have taken over the past few years," he said. "That is not to say that the IRA don't have to take responsibility for their actions," he added.
As discussion raged as to whether the bomb meant a return to ongoing military operations by the IRA, Joe Sullivan on the Falls Road in Catholic West Belfast told the New York Times, "I think they were just firing a shell across the British bow. They were responding to British intransigence and entrenchment." However he added "We are afraid now. There is apprehension" that the old violence will return.
This was a common sentiment in Northern Ireland. A Catholic woman shopping on the predominantly Protestant Shankill Road in Belfast said, "I would have been too afraid to come here before the cease-fire - and I would avoid it again if the hostilities start up."
"We always said that if the IRA didn't get what it wanted, then out would come the guns again," one Protestant man in the Waterside area of Belfast told reporters.
But others also criticized Major. "I think it could be because of his refusal to get involved in talks," said Ann Cooke, who is Protestant.
Within an hour of the blast, Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police in Belfast were appearing with automatic weapons and flak jackets, road blocks were mounted, and cars searched. The RUC said that where necessary it would ask for support from the British army, which has recently been largely confined to barracks.
Two days after the bombing, 50 people joined a protest action called by Saoirse outside Bellmarsh prison in London, where five Irish republicans are presently in a special lockup unit. Saoirse is the campaign to free Irish political prisoners.
Speaking to the protesters, Patricia Campbell said, "Some people have asked me what is the future of Saoirse now. I say we keep it going. Things may be different, but for us the process is still in place."
Other pickets commented on the bombing. "I was stunned after the bombing," one said, "and unsure about coming on this protest. Then I decided I had to go."
Martin Hill is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union. Pete Clifford contributed to this article.