Belfast, U.K.
Northern Ireland’s bitterest enemies took office together this week to govern the province jointly. Ian Paisley, head of the hard-line unionist Democratic Union Party, and Martin McGuinness, of the hard-line republican party Sinn Fein, were sworn in as first and deputy first ministers—posts with equal powers—to end five years of direct rule by London. An earlier power-sharing government collapsed in 2002, because extremists had failed to disarm. Now, though, Paisley, who long refused to negotiate with Catholics, has pledged to cooperate with the Irish government, while McGuinness, a former militant, promised to support the police and British courts. “From the depths of my heart,” said Paisley, “I believe Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule.”
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