PM hopes for positive IMC report

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/5404586.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The prime minister has said he hopes the latest report from the Independent Monitoring Commission will indicate that the "conflict" in NI is over.

Tony Blair was speaking after meeting Spanish PM Jose Luis Zapatero.

The IMC, which monitors the IRA and loyalist ceasefires, has given its 12th report, due for release on Wednesday, to the UK and Irish governments.

It will form the basis of talks in Scotland next week aimed at restoring devolution.

"I hope that report is positive, if it is, I hope it will indicate that the conflict is over and that we can build a shared future," Mr Blair said at a news conference in Madrid.

"The one thing I have learned is that this is a report which will be very important coming nine years into the process and there is no other way to make these things work other than patient determination."

The Independent Monitoring Commission was set up by the British and Irish governments in January 2004.

Most of its reports have concentrated on activity by paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland.

However, it also monitors the "normalisation" of security measures in the province.

Its four commissioners come from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Britain and the US.