The Irish Republican Army announced an end to its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland on Thursday, in a move British leader Tony Blair said could mark the day "politics replaces terror" there. But the province's main pro-British Protestant party poured cold water on the keenly awaited statement by the guerrilla group, saying it failed to forswear acts of crime or to inspire confidence that guns had been set aside for ever.
The IRA said in a statement it would cease all armed activity and pursue its aims through politics - a crucial move to kick-start talks on a lasting political settlement in the violence-torn province. It said its units must "dump arms".
The IRA arsenal, used to fight for a united Ireland until a 1997 ceasefire, has long been the main obstacle to a political deal. Some 3,600 people died during Northern Ireland's 30 years of "Troubles", half of them killed by the IRA.
The group made no explicit reference to ending criminal activity - also a major stumbling block to the peace process - nor did it promise to disband, a move the group sees as akin to surrender.
Although the bombings and shootings that marked the "Troubles" have largely ended, violence continues to dog the province through beatings carried out by paramilitary groups seeking to control their communities.
But Blair said the IRA's call could spell the end to that.
"This may be the day which finally after all these false dawns and dashed hopes peace replaced war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland," he told reporters in London.
The United States, which brokered the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, took a more cautious line. Mitchell Reiss, President George W. Bush's special envoy for Northern Ireland, told CNN: "The statement is very encouraging, it's potentially historic, and we need to wait and see over the next weeks and months if these words can be translated into deeds to determine if it is truly historic."
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