GERRY ADAMS UNDER THE GUN

THE RALLY WAS JUST WHAT GERRY Adams needed to lift his spirits. When he was introduced to 300 supporters crammed into a community center in West Belfast, they all jumped to their feet, cheering, clapping and whistling. Standing in front of a black wall with real negotiations now written on it in bold white letters, Adams launched into a long speech attacking the British for bad faith and pleading for renewed efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland. His mood was feisty and buoyant.

Six days after an I.R.A. bomb killed two people in London , the leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, was on the hustings, attempting to salvage his credibility as a peacemaker. As well he might. After the I.R.A. declared its cease-fire in August 1994, it was Adams who traipsed the world, telling the likes of Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg and Bill Clinton in Washington that violence had been banished from Ulster politics. The cease-fire, he insisted, was "complete." Peace talks could begin without the fear of I.R.A. guns under the table. Now the bombing in London has contradicted all that and raised troublesome questions. Does Adams approve of the I.R.A.'S return to terrorism? Was he to be trusted in the first place? Assuming he has been sincere, has the I.R.A. overruled his peace initiative, effectively sidelining him?

Last week the disconcerted leader dashed from meeting to meeting, explaining his position. He was on the phone endlessly to London, Dublin and Washington. He told anyone who would listen that he had not known in advance about the bomb or the I.R.A.'s decision to end the cease-fire. When journalists called him with the news, he was at home in Belfast eating fish and chips and resting after a trip to Washington and a few days spent going to and from Dublin. "It was a very traumatic evening," he told Time.

In his statements Adams distanced Sinn Fein from the attack, saying responsibility must rest with the I.R.A. But he refused to condemn the I.R.A. directly. To do so would violate the republican code of honor and mean the end of his relationship with the movement. Rather, Adams set out to explain the reasons why--regrettably--the I.R.A. had returned to violence. "Everybody knew that the British government was involved in brinkmanship and the cease-fire was ready to pop at any time," he said. "The British broke the commitments they made when the I.R.A. agreed to the cease-fire. They promised all-party talks, but after 18 months we got nothing." The British have insisted that the I.R.A. start to disarm before talks in which Sinn Fein is formally included begin, but the I.R.A. has refused, and negotiations have been stalled over this point for months.

Although Adams dosed his speech at the community center with anti-British vitriol, the main thrust of his activities in recent days has been an attempt to put the peace process back on track. Adams believes the I.R.A. would declare a new cease-fire if all-party talks were firmly scheduled. Once the proper negotiating package is put together, says Adams, "the I.R.A. will see it quite clearly and renew the cease-fire."

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