Blair threatens N. Ireland's rival parties...:

'Settle differences else election will be shelved'

BRITAIN: British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday threatened to shelve elections for a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland unless Catholic and Protestants settle their differences over policing.

Blair cut short his New Year holiday in Miami, Florida, by 24 hours to return to London to address the situation, which is threatening to derail the attempt to restore the devolved administration in Belfast.

Catholic party Sinn Fein's refusal to back the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has been a major stumbling block to restoring the executive.

The Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley has given a less than enthusiastic response to a planned Sinn Fein conference to discuss whether to support the police, saying that it did not go far enough.

Blair said in a statement that he had spoken "intensively" with both Paisley and Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in the last few days.

He said it was still possible to transfer policing and justice powers from London to Belfast by May next year - but only if Sinn Fein signs up to supporting the PSNI and the DUP accepts republican commitments to it. "It is only on this basis and with this clarity that we can proceed to an election. I am confident that both parties want to see progress and will honour their commitments.

"But there is no point in proceeding unless there is such clarity," he said.

Under Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern's plan for reviving devolution in Northern Ireland, assembly elections are due to take place on March 7. Both prime ministers have pinned their hopes on restoring power-sharing on Sinn Fein supporting the police for the first time in its history.

Sinn Fein - which is the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) - has previously refused to give its backing to the PSNI and its predecessor the Royal Ulster Constabulary because of a perceived Protestant bias.

The DUP has resisted sharing power with Sinn Fein because of this and also has doubts about the IRA's renouncement of armed violence and criminality.

Responding to Blair's statement, Paisley said they were still willing to make progress but "upfront delivery" was needed from Sinn Fein on policing.

"There can be no movement unless we have clarity on the need for everyone to support the rule of law... The time for action from Sinn Fein is now," he said.

For his part, Adams said Blair had reflected his party's position and revealed senior Sinn Fein members would meet next week to review their efforts on the subject.

"The Ard Chomhairle (Sinn Fein national executive) will obviously have to judge whether or not the DUP's reponse today amounts to a positive acceptance of what Mr Blair has said. Let the dust settle on this.

"However, the officer board of our party will meet next Tuesday to look at all of this."

London and Dublin have set a March 26 deadline for Northern Ireland's parties to restore power-sharing between majority Protestants, who mostly favour retaining links with Britain, and Catholics, who largely favour union with the Republic of Ireland.

Otherwise the parties will see the window of opportunity slam shut and the province ruled from London.

The promise of self-rule was among the main planks of the landmark 1998 Good Friday agreement which ended three decades of "the Troubles", in which over 3,500 people died, many at the hands of the IRA.

But devolved government was suspended in 2002 after allegations of an IRA spy ring at Stormont, the Belfast seat of administration, and Northern Ireland has been back under direct rule from London ever since.

London, Friday, AFP