LONDON, Dec 8 (AFP) - Efforts to reintroduce power-sharing between the two communities in Northern Ireland broke down Wednesday, giving a new blow to hopes of lasting peace in the British-ruled province.
Here are the main events in the peace process since the signing of the Good Friday peace accord on April 10, 1998, which paved the way for the creation of a regional assembly and executive:

1998
June: Parties supporting the Good Friday agreement win a majority of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble is elected First Minister.
Aug: Twenty-nine people are killed and 220 injured in the town of Omagh by a bomb planted by a dissident republican group.

1999
April: London and Dublin order the Irish Republican Army (IRA) -- Northern Ireland's largest Roman Catholic paramilitary group -- to hand over weapons within 30 days of the formation of the government.
Nov 9: The IRA agrees to collaborate with the body overseeing disarmament in Northern Ireland, headed by Canadian General John de Chastelain.
Dec 2: Britain devolves authority to a 10-strong power-sharing government including two ministers of the IRA-linked Sinn Fein, which meets for the first time.

2000
Jan 31: A key disarmament report drawn up by de Chastelain highlights the IRA's failure to decommission its weapons.
Feb 11: Britain's Northern Ireland minister, Peter Mandelson, suspends the executive and restores London's direct rule over the province.
May 6: IRA gives a commitment to engage with the decommissioning body.
May 30: Direct rule ends and devolution resumes.

2001
July 1: Trimble resigns as leader of the executive over the IRA's failure to disarm.
Aug 1: London and Dublin unveil a make-or-break package to rescue the peace process. Later in the month Britain temporarily suspends both the government and assembly due to the continued political impasse.
Oct 23: The IRA announces it has begun disarming.
Nov 6: David Trimble is re-elected First Minister.

2002
April 8: The IRA announces it has begun a second stage of disabling its arsenal.
Oct 14: Britain suspends Northern Ireland's power-sharing government after spy-ring allegations. Direct rule from London is reimposed for an indefinite period.
Oct 30: The IRA announces it has ended contact with the international decommissioning body.

2003
Nov 26: Assembly elections take place after two postponements and result in sharply polarised vote, with Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley's hardline Democratic Unionist Party coming out on top.

2004:
Dec 8: The British and Irish leaders concede that their plan to restore power-sharing government to Northern Ireland was 'incomplete' but stress that a definitive peace deal hinges solely on how to carry out IRA disarmament.

12/08/2004 19:17 GMT - AFP