Imagine a fragile government trying to hold together a U.S.-brokered peace accord. Religious tension, terrorist factions and territorial disputes all threaten an uneasy peace. At its head a man named a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate several years before. The terrorists refuse to budge until the political climate is ripe. The moderate leader temporarily resigns his post to make way for historical change, gambling with the future of the peace process.

Is it the Holy Land? A war-torn African nation? Maybe one of those Latin American countries with the cartels?

No. Welcome to Northern Ireland.

Centuries of conflict between the native Irish Catholic population and the Protestant British Loyalists came to a head in the late 1960’s, when “the Troubles” boiled over.

Since then, more than 3,000 people have died in violent confrontations between those loyal to union with Britain and those with nationalist and republican leanings who seek to reunite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.

While the Protestant Unionists have been historically antagonistic in granting equality to Catholics and are accused of obstructing the unification of the Irish people, some of their republican adversaries include the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a terrorist organization responsible for sending its messages via car bombs. Sinn Fein, the radical republican party committed to Irish self-determination, has supported, at least tacitly, many of the actions of the IRA.

Meet David Trimble, a university professor who dabbled in hard-line politics in his salad days but has since became the most visible symbol of power sharing in Northern Ireland. Until July, he held the office of first minister in the Stormont Assembly, the body responsible for power-sharing under the Good Friday Agreement.

He resigned his post when the peace process stagnated, citing the Irish Republican Army’s unwillingness to disarm in the current political climate. While Mr. Trimble is supported by both moderate Catholics and moderate Protestants, his membership in the Ulster Unionist Party makes him untrustworthy to the extremist Catholics, and to the hard-line Unionists, Trimble’s peace overtures to Sinn Fein render him unacceptable.

The Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 accord that marked the beginning of cooperation for peace, has been on the rocks lately, in danger of being scrapped altogether. It seemed that power sharing between the unionists and the republicans would never work, and that Trimble was not satisfactorily extreme enough to mollify either side.

IRA disarmament is a critical facet of lasting peace in Northern Ireland, but not the sole facet. The recalcitrant republican extremists felt that their disarmament may lead to a greater imbalance of power, and that they would have no recourse when Unionists disrespected Catholic equality or self-determination.

Unfortunately, the republican movement in Ireland has shifted from its focus nearly a century ago in fighting for an independent Irish republic, accomplished in 1922, to a terrorist organization wreaking retribution on Unionists. The struggle in Northern Ireland has become more vengeful and less idealistic. Prospects for peace were hindered by attacks for which the IRA claimed responsibility.

Mr. Trimble, a leader with whom the republicans had a reasonable expectation of cooperating, resigned in June when the IRA again refused to disarm. The resignation was a political gamble, evidence of the lengths to which Trimble was willing to go to nurse the Good Friday Agreement back to life.

Maybe it was Trimble and his brave stand, maybe it was Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, and his unprecedented call to the IRA to disarm. Maybe it was the contributions to the IRA flowing in from Irish-Americans, and America’s abrupt realization that terrorism is not a romantic cause to fund.

Maybe it was President Bush and his crackdown on terrorist groups that made the IRA realize it could no longer differentiate itself from other terrorist groups simply because its members were white Anglophone Christians.

It is not making any front-page news, but the IRA has agreed to disarm. The persistence of moderate leaders like David Trimble enabled a shift toward peace and an end to a chapter of terrorism. By the way, David Trimble is back at the helm. On Friday his reinstatement as first minister was narrowly defeated in the assembly, because while he had 70 percent of the vote, the vote did not contain enough support from both the unionists and the Catholics.

Saturday, a formerly neutral party with only five members threw its support behind Trimble, giving him overwhelming support in a re-run election and the necessary diversity of support required by the power-sharing agreement.

Ironic that at this time in history all it takes to disarm an established, internationally supported terrorist organization is a little cooperation, a little respect and a leader willing to step down from the highest political post because he values peace more than his political future.

Rachel Faber Machacha is a graduate student in international development studies from Emmetsburg.