US may back ceasefire assessor, US envoy says
That is the view of US President George W. Bush’s envoy on Northern Ireland, Richard Haas, who is on a fact-finding visit to Dublin, Belfast and London.
Mr Haas held talks in Dublin yesterday with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen. The US envoy recalled that he was in Dublin on September 11 last year when the terrorist attacks struck at the heart of America.
He said the experience had taught Americans much about terrorism in practice.
The overall lesson was that terrorism had to be fought not just on a military level, but through international cooperation in tackling funding sources and trading intelligence between national authorities, he said.
“What we have tried to do since then is to make the world a difficult place for terrorists in which to operate,” Mr Haas said.
The US President’s envoy said his country would monitor carefully the trial of IRA suspects in Colombia. He said the US administration’s concerns about that issue had not changed.
He said he recognised the problems facing the Northern Ireland peace process, and his visit to Ireland and Britain was to discuss these personally with all the main parties involved.
He said the US would consider backing the appointment of an independent assessor to pronounce on the validity of the ceasefires.
“In all these things, my question is very simple: will it help? If it does, we will consider it.”
Mr Haas said America’s clear wish to see Saddam Hussein ousted as Iraq President remained stronger than ever, and it was the job of he and his colleagues to explain this to friends and allies across the world.
He said President Bush would make a landmark speech to the United Nations tomorrow on the issue and he was restricted in what he could say until then.
“One thing I do know is that I shouldn’t scoop my boss.”
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