Ex-IRA and British Soldiers Discuss Reconciliation Over Tea

Three-thousand seven-hundred people were killed in the 30-year conflict known as the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland. Men who belonged to those groups met in Northern Ireland last month to talk about why they took up arms and how the future can be made less bloody.

Ian Cobain reports at The Guardian:

With handshakes, smiles and four civil words, a small group of men came together in Northern Ireland last month in an attempt to overcome a formidable barrier that remains long after the decades of conflict came to an end.

“Do you take milk?” asked one. And with the tea dispensed, four former members of the British army and four former members of the Irish Republican Army commenced a meeting that was intended to start a process of reconciliation among men who had once been the most implacable of enemies.

In an encounter that was both undramatic but remarkable nonetheless, the men talked about the reasons they had taken up arms, the consequences of their decisions and their hopes of making a contribution to a lasting peace.

Read more here.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.