A Glimmer of Irish Hope

BELFAST, Northern Ireland: In a sign of warming relations is Northern Ireland, key group of Protestants agreed not to stage a march through a Catholic neighborhood. The Apprentice Boys Order, whose marches last year incited several days of Catholic violence, announced that they would avoid Lower Ormeau Road during its Easter Monday parade. The announcement had a strong element of spin: "Assuming the Royal Ulster Constabulary will not allow us to parade our traditional route on Easter Monday, especially with the escalation of violence at the present time, it would be wrong of us to provide another excuse for confrontation," the group's statement read. The announcement was warmly greeted by the Catholic residents of Lower Ormeau Road. At the same time, British Prime Minister John Major, campaigning for re-election at a high school near London, said he believed the nationalist Irish Republican Army was preparing to resume the cease-fire it abandoned a year ago. However, Major predicted the IRA announcement would come after the May 1 national British elections, which Major so far looks likely to lose. It will probably fall to a Labor government to continue the all-party peace talks and to decide whether to extend an invitation to Sinn Fein, the political party aligned with the IRA, in the event of a cease-fire. If Catholic and Protestant groups can avoid creating sparks as the annual marching season begins next week, and if the seeds of an IRA cease-fire come to fruition, Labor may begin its rule with much momentum toward peace.