Paisley Seeks Ouster of Protestant Groups

The Rev. Ian Paisley, a Protestant who leads the Democratic Unionist Party, sought to remove two Protestant parties linked to paramilitary groups from peace talks. Paisley feared the presence of the two groups, which have issued death threats against two of their own members for opposing a truce, could pave the way for Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, to rejoin the talks. Sinn Fein was barred when the IRA resumed its fight against British rule in February. A decision on the two parties was put on hold by the talks’ chairman, former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Maine).