A deal taking shape Friday in negotiations on Northern Ireland’s future would require the outlawed Irish Republican Army to resume disarmament and issue a new statement that, for the first time, would definitively renounce violence.
In return, however, the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party is demanding an ironclad commitment from the Democratic Unionists, the major British Protestant party, to form a joint administration.
All sides reported progress on the second day of talks.
Negotiators said on condition of anonymity that Sinn Fein was circulating the potential text of an IRA statement to other negotiators to gauge whether it was sufficiently clear and comprehensive. Past IRA statements, particularly on cease-fires and disarmament, have been ambiguous.
