(28 Feb 1996) Natural Sound
British Prime Minister John Major and his Irish counterpart John Bruton will meet in London today (Wednesday) in an effort to restart the stalled Northern Ireland peace process.
The two leaders are expected to unveil a new plan for negotiations involving Northern Ireland's Irish Catholic and British Protestant parties.
The summit appears to signal a swift turnaround for the peace process which only two weeks ago appeared to be collapsing after the Irish Republican Army broke its 17-month ceasefire.
Today's summit between John Major and John Bruton will be the first since the ceasefire ended.
The process stalled after the failure of all sides in the conflict to agree to terms under which round-table talks could be held.
The Irish Republican Army (I-R-A) broke its ceasefire with a truck-bomb in London's Docklands business district on February 9th, killing two people and wounding scores more.
With the explosion of a bomb on a bus in the capital nine days later, hopes for a peaceful settlement in Northern Ireland appeared to be as far away as ever.
The search for peace in the Province received a boost last December with the visit to London and Belfast of U-S President Bill Clinton.
There Clinton met Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein, seen as the political wing of the I-R-A, swelling hopes that the lull in violence would be permanent.
Sinn Fein has insisted there can be no progress in the peace process until a definite date for round-table talks on Northern Ireland has been announced.
Now Major and Bruton are believed to have come up with ideas that might allow this to happen.
With troops returning to the Northern Ireland and soldiers back on the streets, today's announcement will be crucial to the prospects of achieving a lasting peace.
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