[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[May 6, 2000]
[Page 858]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on the Northern Ireland Peace Process
May 6, 2000

    I want to join Prime Ministers Blair and 
Ahern in welcoming the IRA's commitment to 
initiate a process that will completely and verifiably put arms beyond 
use and its decision to resume contact with the Independent 
International Commission on Decommissioning. This is a significant step 
toward realizing the full promise of the Good Friday accord. I urge the 
loyalist paramilitaries to do the same.
    I express appreciation to Martti Ahtisaari and Cyril Ramaphosa for 
their willingness to take part in confidence-building measures involving 
third party inspection of IRA weapons dumps. I have great confidence in 
their ability to contribute to this important task.
    These developments offer renewed hope to the people of Northern 
Ireland that politics will once and for all be pursued through 
exclusively political means. The United States remains ready to assist 
this process in any way we can.

Note: The statement referred to Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United 
Kingdom; Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland; former President Martti 
Ahtisaari of Finland; and former Secretary-General Cyril Ramaphosa of 
South Africa's African National Congress.