Iraq is set to dominate talks Monday evening and Tuesday morning between US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who are meeting for the second time since the war began on March 20.

But the summit venue, picked by Downing Street, will give Bush an opportunity to pay back Blair for his unwavering support on Iraq by doing his bit to push forward the Northern Ireland peace process.

Significantly, the summit is taking place just before Thursday's fifth anniversary of the Good Friday peace accords.

Thursday is also the deadline for proposals to be set out for restoring Northern Ireland's power-sharing government, suspended last October amid a row over alleged IRA spy activities.

Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern are expected to present a blueprint of proposals to hold new elections, restore devolved rule and ensure full implementation of the 1998 Good Friday agreement.

British officials are keen to cast the Northern Ireland peace process as a template for conflict resolution that could be applied in other global hotspots -- including the Palestinian territories.

Plans call for Bush and Blair to be joined in Belfast on Tuesday by Ahern, who is Blair's partner in trying to end three decades of sectarian strife in the British province.

Later in the day, all three will convene Northern Ireland's top political leaders -- Ulster Unionist chief David Trimble, Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and Mark Durkan of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

Many analysts expect Bush to echo Blair's call last October for the IRA -- now observing a ceasefire in its struggle against British rule -- to officially renounce armed conflict and give up its weapons cache.

Downing Street would not go so far as to confirm that, but a spokesman for Blair on Monday confirmed that Blair is hoping that the president's presence will help the Good Friday process along.

"The American government, both the last (Bill Clinton) administration and this administration, has been intimately involved" in the Northern Ireland peace process, a spokesman said.

"But also, the president coming to Northern Ireland is a statement of the United States' recommitment to the Good Friday agreement... and its belief, along with the belief of the British and Irish governments, that the agreement offers the only viable way forward that will bring a lasting settlement to Northern Ireland," he said.

In a major blow to the peace process, Britain suspended the Belfast-based assembly in October and put Northern Ireland back under direct rule from London to avert a threatened walk-out by Protestant unionists that would have triggered the collapse of the institutions.

A key demand by unionists before they agree to return to power-sharing with Catholics is that the IRA gives up its weapons for good.

Meanwhile, republicans have been seeking police reform and the scaling back of the British army presence in Northern Ireland.

SPACE.WIRE