"We saw something today (March 26) that people never thought would happen," said British Secretary of State Peter Hain, who expects to hand power May 8 to a coalition led by Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and Gerry Adams' Sinn Fein.

Paisley, who for decades has sought to thwart compromise with Catholics, sat beside Adams, a reputed Irish Republican Army veteran who Paisley long denounced as a "man of blood."

Their agreement, reached in Belfast, called for Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists to work together in government.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 31, 2007
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