Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Gerry Adams, whose Sinn Fein party is allied to the group that waged an armed campaign for a united Ireland, urged President-elect Barack Obama to pursue talks with U.S. enemies in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

“I would be very surprised if there weren’t some lines of communications” already in Afghanistan, Adams said in an interview at his office in Belfast. “Leaving aside moral issues, ethical issues, look at what works. There is merit in the Irish peace process in some ways being looked at in terms of broad principles.”

A total of 4,835 U.S. Army personnel had been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as of Dec. 16, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Defense. Obama, elected on a pledge of withdrawing from Iraq and stepping up the fight in Afghanistan, plans to dispatch an additional 7,000 combat troops to repel the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist movement ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks.

As leader of Sinn Fein, Adams, 60, is allied with the Irish Republican Army, which carried out a violent struggle against the U.K. government for a united Ireland, and against pro- British unionist paramilitaries who wanted to remain part of the country. Between 1969 and 1994, more than 3,500 people were killed in Northern Ireland.

In 1994, the IRA called a cease-fire and after four years of talks with the U.K. government Sinn Fein signed a peace deal that led to the creation of a power-sharing assembly in the U.K. province.

Conflict Resolution

Adams said he has “no time” for al-Qaeda. “There are clearly people out there who are not terrorists but who know what’s happening, who have contacts, who themselves are open to being helpful to bring together a genuine process of conflict resolution,” he said.

Adams said that closer economic ties with the Republic of Ireland may see the island reunified within his lifetime.

Northern Ireland is the U.K.’s third-poorest region, with gross domestic product per capita 20 percent below the U.K. average. Boosted by an influx of foreign investment and a construction boom, the economy of the Republic of Ireland tripled in size in a decade before entering a recession this year.

“You have an acceptance that partition no longer has any economic value,” said Adams. “It could be that the economy would be a big decider for many unionists.”

Adams said his party hasn’t yet taken a position on a new referendum south of the border on the European Union’s governing treaty. Sinn Fein was the only major party to campaign against the Lisbon Treaty, which was designed to streamline EU decision making. Irish Voters rejected the treaty in June.

Second Referendum

Prime Minister Brian Cowen signaled on Dec. 12 he may hold a second vote on the treaty. Under the accord he reached with other EU leaders, Ireland would hold a second ballot by Oct. 31, 2009.

The deal allows all EU countries to keep a representative on the European Commission, the Brussels-based executive. Cowen also sought assurances that the EU wouldn’t interfere with tax rates or impose family planning policies.

“What’s coming forward at the moment doesn’t give one much hope,” Adams said. Cowen “ended up almost as a messenger boy for the political elite at the European Union as opposed to the leader of a state whose citizens had just very clearly set out its position.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Colm Heatley in Belfast at cheatley@bloomberg.net. Dara Doyle in Dublin at ddoyle1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 18, 2008 19:01 EST