(15 Jul 1999) English/Nat

The man in charge of getting Northern Ireland's paramilitaries to disarm said Thursday he still believes the I-R-A and other groups will lay down their weapons by next May.

Canada's General John de Chastelain insisted the peace process remained viable, despite the crisis over the I-R-A's refusal to decommission its armoury.

And former US senator George Mitchell, the architect of the Good Friday Agreement, said he expected the peace process to be suspended for a few months, although he insisted it wasn't dead.

They were speaking after receiving medals from the Queen in recognition of their efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland.

This was meant to be a day to celebrate, but instead it turned into something of a post mortem on a peace process that may not be dead, but has taken a serious turn for the worse.

On the right, Canadian general John de Chastelain who's head of the arms decommissioning body. In the middle, former US senator George Mitchell who brokered the Good Friday agreement. And on the left, former Finnish premier Harri Holkeri who chaired peace talks.

The three men received awards from the Queen on Thursday, then went to the Canadian High Commission for lunch.

On his way in, de Chastelain insisted the issue at the centre of the crisis - the I-R-A's refusal to disarm - was in the process of being resolved:

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"All the parties in the process say they believe in decommissioning. All of the parties who were involved in the peace process, even the ones who were not in favour of the agreement, want to see decommissioning. The IRA declared a ceasefire, as did others, in order to allow the democratic process to work. And it would be my anticipation that the logical conclusion to that, eventually, is to do away with their arms."
Question: Do you believe the IRA will disarm?
"I believe all of the paramilitary groups, eventually, will decommission. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't continue to do the job I'm doing."
CAPTION: General John de Chastelain, head of arms decommissioning body

Former US senator George Mitchell also insisted the peace process was still alive, although he suggested it would be suspended for the rest of the summer.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This is a day of irony. Obviously when this day was set, many months ago, no one could foresee it would be a day that the process encountered this difficulty in Northern Ireland. So we;re obviously deeply grateful for the honour, but wish it were under more happy circumstances for Northern Ireland."
Question: What can be done now to move forward?
"I'm certain the governments and political parties will be discussing today, and in the future, the best way to reconvene and proceed. I expect there will be a pause until September, but hope that come September, there'll be an opportunity for all of them to come together again and to make a renewed and determined effort to get past this and other obstacles and keep the process moving forward."
CAPTION: George Mitchell, former peace talks chairman

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