Clinton pledges support for N. Ireland peace plan

On arriving in Dublin for a brief stop before heading for Belfast, Clinton met Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen and urged communities in Ireland and Northern Ireland to follow through on the peace agreement.

Northern Ireland’s rival Catholic and Protestant leaders are deadlocked over transferring responsibility for Northern Ireland’s justice system from British to local hands.

“The step of devolution for policing and justice is an absolutely essential milestone,’’ Clinton said. “Clearly there are questions and some apprehension, but I believe that . . . the parties understand that this is a step they must take together.’’

Clinton began a five-day trip to Europe and Russia on Saturday. On her way out of Dublin, Clinton stopped at Bewley’s Cafe, drawing large crowds on Grafton Street, and took a few sips of coffee before ordering a half pint of Harp lager at McDaids pub. She was accompanied by the US ambassador to Ireland, Daniel Rooney.

Clinton, who will address the Northern Ireland assembly today, said she would provide lawmakers with “as much encouragement and support as I can.’’

In a separate development yesterday, the Irish National Liberation Army, an IRA splinter group responsible for some of the most notorious killings of the Northern Ireland conflict, said it is formally renouncing violence and plans to hand over weapons to disarmament officials

Eleven years after calling a cease-fire, the outlawed INLA said it would observe “exclusively peaceful means’’ and cooperate with General John de Chastelain, the Canadian leader of an international commission that oversees the disarmament of underground armies operating in both parts of Ireland. However, the INLA did not explicitly promise to disarm fully nor specify when the process would start.

The INLA-linked Irish Republican Socialist Party made the announcement at its annual parade near Dublin in honor of their movement’s founder, Seamus Costello. INLA officials said the announcement was not timed to coincide with Clinton’s visit.

Northern Ireland’s largely successful peace process already has yielded IRA disarmament and a Catholic-Protestant government. But British and Irish security officials downplayed the value of words from the INLA, an alliance of small gangs that long have turned on one another for control of criminal rackets.

Earlier yesterday, Clinton joined Foreign Secretary David Miliband of Britain in warning Iran that they would not wait long for the Islamic republic to convince the world that its nuclear intentions are peaceful.

Miliband and Clinton also discussed the war in Afghanistan and the situation in neighboring Pakistan.

They deferred comment on the Obama administration’s review of how to handle Afghanistan, particularly after allegations of fraud in the presidential election in August. But they were firm on Iran, which is defying international demands to come clean about its nuclear ambitions.

Clinton warned Iran that the world “will not wait indefinitely’’ for proof it is not trying to develop atomic weapons. Iran insists it has the right to a full domestic enrichment program that it maintains is only for peaceful purposes such as energy production.

Clinton said a meeting in Geneva in which Iran and six world powers resumed nuclear talks was “a constructive beginning, but it must be followed by action.’’ Miliband added that Iran “will never have a better opportunity to establish normal relations with the international community.’’

Before leaving London, Clinton met Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain and stressed that the nations’ relationship remained strong.