It has taken almost a dozen years but last week political leaders in the UK’s Northern Ireland finally agreed a deal on policing, which was the last major ambition of the 1998 Good Friday agreement. Protestant Unionist politicians had always feared the return of policing powers from London to the Northern Ireland Assembly in Stormont, because their Sinn Fein partners in the coalition administration included former members of the terrorist IRA.
They claimed that with political control of policing back in the hands of Northern Ireland politicians of any hue, the rule of law and order would be undermined. This always seemed a weak argument. The British police are generally far less at the beck and call of the government than in some other European countries. This is in part because with the limited exception of London’s police force, central government has no direct control over the 52 individual regional police forces. These are overseen by local politicians who have very little ability to dictate how the police work operationally.
The deal between the two leading rival parties in Northern Ireland once again seems to have set the peace process back on track. This is important not just for the UK but for other places in the world such as Rwanda and the Balkans which bear the livid scars of tribal divisions, where hatred and contempt for a rival community was taught from childhood.
Northern Ireland has been held up as an inspirational example of how old enmities can be ended, by a process of compromise and goodwill and by the lure of a better and more prosperous life in a stable region no longer riven by conflict. As it seemed in the past weeks that the province’s power-sharing agreement was about to fall apart, Northern Ireland looked anything but an inspiration. Yet once again, after the brinkmanship to which its politicians seem addicted, a deal has been struck. More important, the party rank and file behind the Northern Irish leaders has signed off on it.
There remain small groups of diehards on both sides who continue to reject the peace settlement on principle. Though there are still two minor Republican terror groups in operation, the Irish National Liberation Army, arguably one of the most vicious and ruthless, has just announced that it too has abandoned violence and put its weaponry beyond use.
There is also a rump of Unionist Protestant politicians and a handful of terrorists connected with organized crime who insist they want no part of the peace process. However, if the new deal holds, all these remaining extremists are doomed.
The same will hold true in Iraq. Once the occupation ends, there will be no further excuse for the insurgency. The killers will become increasingly isolated. Political leaders representing different communities will continue to master the lessons of working together. The dividends of peace and prosperity will entirely negate the woes of violence and bloodshed. In every historical conflict like Northern Ireland, it is unity of purpose and willingness to compromise that ultimately defeats the powers of darkness.
