Sinn Fein urged its members Sunday to accept the legitimacy of the police force in Northern Ireland, a landmark step which could help restore power sharing in the British province.

The party, political ally of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which killed nearly 300 police officers during a 30-year campaign against British rule, was expected to vote later Sunday (local time) on whether to back the Protestant-dominated police force.

The Sinn Fein vote could help to end political stalemate in Northern Ireland after the suspension in 2002 of a power-sharing assembly between majority pro-British Protestants and a Catholic minority who want a united Ireland.

Protestant politicians want Sinn Fein to sign up to supporting the police before they will consider working with them again in the Belfast-based assembly, which was set up under a 1998 peace deal.

That would be a momentous step for Sinn Fein and its supporters who long viewed the police force in the province as an arm of British rule.

More than 3,600 people were killed in Northern Ireland's sectarian conflict, with the IRA responsible for nearly half the deaths. Violence has subsided over the past decade, but the two communities remain deeply suspicious of each other.

"Whatever decision we reach we will leave here united as unrepentant republicans who can achieve our objectives," Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams told a special party conference in Dublin attended by more than 2,000 members.

(China Daily via agencies January 29, 2007)