Major offers concession to IRA guerrillas Immediate disarmament demand dropped for talks

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Prime Minister John Major of Britain said yesterday that if the IRA restored its cease-fire, the British and Irish governments would not insist on the group's immediate disarmament when a conference to discuss peace and the political future of Northern Ireland starts on June 10.

The 17-month cease-fire was broken with a series of bomb attacks beginning on Feb. 9 in London.

In recent weeks, Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army's political wing, has said that a new cease-fire was unlikely without assurances from Major that the talks would not focus on disarmament, thus delaying discussions of a political settlement.

Yesterday, in a first-person article in the Irish Times, the prime minister wrote that disarmament -- called decommissioning here would have to be considered at the start of the June talks, but that "recommendations on decommissioning can be taken forward without blocking the negotiations."

Britain and the Irish Republic say the IRA must restore the cease-fire if Sinn Fein is to be allowed to participate in these talks, which would make them the first negotiations with all parties represented.

It is widely acknowledged that a peace conference without IRA representatives would be virtually useless and could lead to a full resumption of IRA violence.

Pub Date: 5/17/96