Northern Ireland Peace Negotiations to Resume

LONDON: In a major breakthrough for stalled Northern Ireland peace talks, British Prime Minister John Major and Irish leader John Bruton announced all party talks will resume on June 10 in Northern Ireland. "Setting a firm date is a very important step at this stage," says TIME's Barry Hillenbrand. "It indicates that the two governments have decided to go ahead with the peace process and are under pressure from all sides to keep the process moving." Before Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA, can come to the table, it must first deliver a halt to the recent rash of IRA bombings. It will be up to Sinn Fein, which probably did not know about the bombings in London this month, to convince the IRA to uphold a cease-fire. The IRA resumed bombings on February 9 after feeling that the peace negotiations were not moving along fast enough. "Although the negotiations will resume," adds Hillenbrand, "it will be a long and complicated process."