Archbishop calls for end of terrorist threat

Pressure on the IRA was heightened today as the head of the Church of Ireland urged the Provisionals to declare their terrorist campaign had ended.

As the Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid prepared to make a Commons statement just hours after the re-introduction of direct rule, Church of Ireland Archbishop Robin Eames said it was time for loyalist and republican paramilitaries to announce the threat of violence was lifted and there was no going back to the dark days of the past.

Republicans are facing increasing demands in London, Dublin and Washington for the IRA to disband in a bid to get the political institutions restored in Belfast, and Dr Eames called on the leadership to make a new move.

He said: "Give us the reassurance that the war is over for good. Then let us move on with a new confidence across the community. But let us move on together."

Dr Reid is expected to begin talks with all sides at Stormont next week, but the British and Irish governments fear it could be months before the process is up and running again.

Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will also meet, and there was speculation in Belfast today that Blair may travel to Belfast before the end of the week.

The IRA has been on ceasefire since July 1997, but without a commitment to disarm completely and disband, there is no prospect of David Trimble and the Ulster Unionists agreeing to share power with Sinn Fein again.

With devolved government in Belfast suspended indefinitely, Dr Reid has appointed two Labour MPs to strengthen his ministerial team and was due to announce at Westminster this afternoon who will take charge of each of the 10 departments.

Republicans have indicated there is no prospect of IRA disbandment in the foreseeable future.

With a total breakdown in trust and confidence between Sinn Fein and the Unionists - in the aftermath of spying allegations and republican involvement in the theft of Special Branch files from Castlereagh - direct rule from London could run well beyond the planned date for the next elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly on May 1 next year.

Dr Eames, whose Church of Ireland has an estimated 370,000 members - 90,000 of them in the Republic, said trust had to be re-established.

He told a meeting of his Armagh Diocesan Synod: "This is a time for real statesmanship. This is a time for genuine reassurance.

"This is a time to say plainly, without reservation, that the threat of violence, the continued existence of paramilitary force, the dread of a return to atrocities have gone and are no longer part of the equation.

"This is where reassurance is needed. This is the point where fear and suspicion can stop. This is where the task of rebuilding trust can begin."