Clinton Travels to Ireland, Urges Peace

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is promoting the message of peace in Dublin, Ireland. This the third leg of her five-day trip to Europe and Russia.

On arriving in Dublin, Clinton met Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen and urged communities in Ireland and Northern Ireland to follow through on the peace process.

Hillary Clinton the US Secretary of State said "Here in Phoenix Park, whose name symbolises renewal, I am absolutely in accord with former President Kennedy that the Irish future is as promising as your past is proud."

The peace process is at a deadlock between Northern Ireland's rival Catholic and Protestant leaders over transferring responsibility for Northern Ireland's justice system from British to local hands.

Clinton's visit to Dublin came on the day the Irish National Liberation Army, an IRA splinter group responsible for some of the most notorious killings of the Northern Ireland conflict, renounced violence and signalled it could hand over weapons soon to disarmament officials.

INLA officials said the announcement was not timed to coincide with the Secretary of State's visit.

Clinton had meetings earlier in London with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.