NORTHERN Ireland Minister Mo Mowlam takes a brave, unprecedented step when she goes the notorious Maze Prison tomorrow to meet loyalist terrorists face-to-face in an attempt to keep the peace process alive.

But she tales a high-risk step, too.

The consequence of failure is a return to the years of futile bloodshed and terror.

Negotiation, as Dr Mowlam says she will spell out in her behind-bars summit with convicted killers, is the only alternative.

The thought that this path may be rejected is chilling. And it is not just Dr Mowlam's future that is put on the line now, but that of peace in Ulster.

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