Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation work in South Africa, said yesterday that the peace process in that country had shown that there were dangers associated with setting too many preconditions.
He was speaking in Belfast, where he led a workshop of community and peace groups. He also met the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, and is due to meet Northern Ireland's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, today.
Asked what lessons the North could learn from South Africa, Archbishop Tutu said: "We've learned the fact that you make yourself much more vulnerable if you have too many preconditions. We were very fortunate in the sense that we did have leaders who led by leading, and most of them were ready to take risks for this huge prize at the end of the road." He added that this did not just refer to the current impasse over decommissioning.
Archbishop Tutu said he would say to both Mr Adams and Mr Trimble that the prize was so precious that they could not allow it to be jeopardised.
Negotiations were about give and take. "Each person should be able to go back to their side and say `I got this from him, and they got this from us'."
Archbishop Tutu, who chairs the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, said he believed the commission had proved a "potent agent" for assisting the healing of a very traumatised and wounded people.
Ultimately, he believed that the Northern Ireland peace process would succeed and that good would prevail. "My sense is that there are far too many people in this country who are truly committed and dedicated to peace and to finding a settlement to allow it to `come a cropper' because of this or that difficulty."
Archbishop Tutu, who led an inter-church service with Archbishop Robin Eames last night, said that he was not in Northern Ireland to inflict "infallible blueprints" but in the hope that people could learn from some of the experiences of South Africa.