Paisley conjures another barrier to power-sharing

LONDON - The gnarled and bent figure of the Reverend Ian Paisley crept down the steps of Number 10 Downing St after meeting the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) gathered himself as he faced the press to repeat his achievement of the past 40 years and once again halt Northern Ireland peace talks.

Unless, at meetings in Belfast today, Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern manage to seriously bang Catholic and Protestant politicians' heads together, direct rule from London will continue into the New Year.

Paisley, 78, almost fooled the pundits, who were talking of his desire to enjoy office before age removed him from the scene.

He appeared prepared to accept a power-sharing deal in which the DUP would work with Sinn Fein and its leader, Gerry Adams.

This extraordinary duo seemed ready, in recent weeks of talks, to accept a return of devolved power that would have them providing the First and Deputy First Ministers under the arrangements of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which apportions executive seats according to a weighted numerical formula.

Paisley, who always refers to "Sinn Fein-IRA", making the links that exist between political and paramilitary Republicans apparent, was only pretending to be the pussycat.

The deal, he said, would go ahead if the IRA agreed to a new demonstration of their willingness to put their weapons beyond use, a gesture to be witnessed - as previous ones have - by the Canadian retired General John de Chastelain.

Then the cunning old warrior said he wanted just one other thing. Photographic evidence. Ten years of ceasefire were not enough.

He rubbed salt into the wound. The IRA had sinned, he said, and it should be humiliated.

That was Tuesday. Yesterday Adams, constrained by voters as extreme as the DUP's, said the IRA would not and should not be humiliated. Later his tone changed - and he was warning that any deal would be difficult.