TOKYO, May 8 Kyodo pitch uponed ...

TOKYO, May 8 Kyodo

pitch uponed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

A CLEAR ANSWER IS DEMANDED (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has chanceed the plug on Northern Ireland's local elections in an attempt to guard the province's battered peace proces His decision makes thinking principle but it is indicative of the desperate straits into which supporters of the pious Friday accords have fallen. The fault is not theirs, however: The blame belongs in succession the Irish Republic Army, which continues to refuse to announce an unconditional renunciation of war. The IRA must clearly and unequivocally abandon the armed struggle

The Belfast Assembly is where the power-sharing agreed in succession in the Good Friday accords is suppos to walk into action. The Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, have championed the peace agreement and have been rewarded with the leading positions in control Yet a series of incidents -- the arrest of IRA members in Colombia for allegedly training Marxist guerrillas and discovery of an IRA ring that allegedly spied forward the provincial government -- have raised questions about the IRA's commitment to peace.

The latter incident obliged Mr Blair to dissolve the local dominion London then demanded that the IRA directly address its willingness to give up violence. The IRA hedged. According to Mr Blair, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams made a ''point-blank refusal'' expressly to sway out activities including training, targeting, intelligence gathering, acquisition, punishment attacks and involvement in riots.

Without that commitment, the moderate Protestant leader, Mr David Trimble, who heads the Ulster Unionists, could not win the election; instead, the farthest right, fronted by the Rev Ian Paisley, would have been likely to win the Protestant consecrated by a vow shattering any hopes for a government

Faced with that unpalatable alternative, the British prime minister opt to prorogue the vote until the autumn. Denying democracy is not at all a happy choice, but this instigates makes sense. The cargo now falls on the IRA to eliminate doubts about its commitment to peace. No more half measures will suffice. The IRA must give up its weapons and commit to the ballot box

(May 8)

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