Wednesday, 2 December, 1998
Thursday, 3 December, 1998 Friday, 4 December, 1998 Weekend, 6 December, 1998 Tuesday, 8 December, 1998 Thursday, 10 December, 1998Inquest reveals RUC complicity in killings
The complicity of the RUC police in the loyalist killings of 11 nationalists earlier this year was exposed during inquests into the killing of two of the dead men, Terry Enright and Edmund Treanor, on Friday.
At Mr Enright's inquest an RUC inspector admitted for the first time that the gun used to kill the West Belfast man belonged to a member of the crown forces, the inspector also claimed it had been stolen.
The inquest into the shooting dead of North Belfast man Edmund Treanor heard an RUC man say he thought a different loyalist death squad, the Ulster Defence Association [UDA] was responsible for the attack on the Clifton Tavern that left Treanor dead and six other people wounded.
At the time the Loyalist Vounteer Force [LVF] claimed responsibility but it was widely believed that the UDA-which claims to have ended its killing campaign in 1994 -- were responsible, not least because the killers getaway car was hi-jacked in the Lower Shankill, a known UDA stronghold.
When Mr Enright's was shot dead in the early hours of Sunday January 11, it was reported that the RUC may have had prior knowledge of a loyalist attack in the area of the Space Club, owned by David Irvine's sister-in-law, where Mr Enright was working as a doorman.
In was reported at the time that a person present at the scene of the Enright killing overheard a senior RUC man say to a member of staff at the nightclub that, "we were told something was going to happen".
However it is the issue of ballistic evidence that is the most contentious. As the gun used to kill Mr Enright was registered to a member of the crown forces, the RUC would definitely know the ballistic history of the gun used in the attack. But Despite calls from Sinn Fein the RUC has refused to disclose that information.
When a weapon is issued through the RUC, such as this weapon, it is test-fired so that it's specific characteristics are recorded and kept on file. This information is easily accessible to the RUC yet it took them 10 months to make a disclosure.
Also during the loyalist murder campaign that saw 11 Catholics killed, the RUC at no time used either the circumstantial evidence or the available ballistic evidence to identify the killers.
In a statement the Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said: "The revelation is only a partial uncovering of the truth. I will be pursuing this matter and demanding to know from which branch of the crown forces this weapon was taken and indeed whether the RUC was aware the weapon was missing. For many years we have witnessed collusion between the RUC and loyalist death squads. Friday's revelation follows on from the Nelson case and other documented incidents of collusion."
Following the inquest revelation, Terry Enright senior, said of his son's death, "nothing can replace my son, but this points out how ludicrous the whole decommissioning issue is. If people are determined to kill the availability of weapons is not an issue. We could be so much further on if it wasn't for all this nonsense about decommissioning."
RUC failing to prevent loyalist violence on Garvaghy Road
After a week of legal and illegal loyalist gatherings and demonstrations, Portadown nationalists and traders in the town are expressing fears over a Grand Lodge of Ireland protest planned for 19 December-the busiest shopping day of the year for traders, and another day when nationalists will be forced to stay at home.
A young man was attacked last Thursday by loyalists gathered near the nationalist Garvaghy Road enclave. The inactivity of the RUC as hundreds of loyalists gathered at the junction of Dungannon Road and Drumcree Road bordering the nationalist estates has been condemned by local representatives.
According to Breandan MacCionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents Association, "a young local man driving his girlfriend home was attacked in his car by up to 80 or 90 loyalists. This is very worrying, as the loyalist threat increases the RUC are failing to up their presence and this type of incident will increase in frequency."
During the ‚Orange' support demonstration on Saturday, described by MacCionnaith as "relatively peaceful", loyalists hurled abuse at residents at the junction with Craigwell Avenue. Loyalists were also observed using at least four video cameras to take footage of nationalist residents and the dozen or so protesters.
As loyalists passed St John's chapel they turned on nationalist residents and attempted to gain access to the graveyard. When local people remonstrated with the RUC about their inactivity the RUC turned on them. Riot squads were brought to face the peaceful locals, along with three dog handlers and dogs.
Peace process in turmoil as unionists pull out of deal
There was profound disappointment today as unionists eventually backed out of a long-delayed deal to implement elements of the Good Friday Agreement.
A pact on the outline structure of all-Ireland bodies and the devolved administration of the Six Counties had been widely signalled for weeks.
But on a day when handshakes were expected, the Ulster Unionist Party sharply retreated from what had been agreed. UUP negotiators claimed the difficulties were because their party membership had yet to approve the arrangements-but nationalists accused them of simply shirking their responsibility.
With time rapidly running out before the planned transfer of powers to Belfast in spring, unionists have for weeks promised an imminent conclusion to the negotiations on the new structures- agreed in principle on Good Friday-only to pull back at the last moment.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the Ulster Unionists lacked the political will to implement the Good Friday Agreement, accusing them of "continual breaches" of that pact. Since becoming First Minister Designate and presiding over the creation of the Assembly in Belfast, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has balked at any and all concessions to nationalists.
The British Prime Minister was said to be furious that the parties had not been able to announce what had appeared a conclusive consensus on Wednesday night. The Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern said he was "baffled" at the delay.
The first public confirmation of elements of the deal-revealed here yesterday-came in a staccato statement read to journalists by Seamus Mallon, deputy leader of the SDLP and Deputy First Minister Designate of the new Six County Executive.
Displaying a frustration common to all the nationalist negotiators, Mallon said he had reached agreement through the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, on the following points: "On North/South implementation bodies there will be a trade and business development body; a tourism body; a strategic transport body; an EU programmes body. There will be 10 Departments with a stand-alone Department of Finance and Personnel."
He called on the other parties "to confirm their participation in the agreement brokered by the [British] Prime Minister."
Mr Adams said Trimble had confirmed during their meeting yesterday his agreement in principle on 10 departments and eight cross-border bodies.
Some people were "in denial", he said. Unionists were back-pedalling on crucial elements of the deal, including the creation of a Department of Equality, and two cross-border bodies, including one for the promotion of Irish Gaelic and Ulster Scots.
"The two governments, like the SDLP and Sinn Fein, know what was agreed. The unionists are deliberately blocking progress.
"Mr Blair knows this. Sinn Fein was the last party to meet with the British prime minister. He expressed that there would be agreement on these matters this evening. I expressed my scepticism," Mr Adams said.
Mr Trimble has left for the US this morning and will not return until December 14th. Speculation over the possiblity of a deal continues, with some hopes resting on the possiblity that David Trimble may be merely seeking to finesse the deal by pointing to the dissent within his party.
But before he left, he continued to issue hardline statements, and denied reports that Tony Blair had contacted him to express anger over the UUP's failure to endorse the deal.
"It is still the case that we can't form the executive with unreconstructed terrorists," he said, in an uncompromising reference to Sinn Fein. Senior party negotiator, Reg Empey, said his party members were not "performing poodles". He told Irish radio this morning that agreement would be reached "in due course"-but the UUP Deputy leader John Taylor last night told journalists to take a week's vacation, as he believed there would be no agreement in the interim.
Ailing peace process faces greatest challenge
With Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble pulling out of a deal on the structure of new political institutions on Thursday, the Good Friday Agreement is clearly under threat from his party's stalling tactics.
It is now thought unlikely that the British and Irish governments can meet the legislative timetable for the transfer of powers from London to Belfast by next February.
The Ulster Unionist Party today shrugged off intense criticism from the other political parties and the Irish and British governments. Spokesmen blamed internal party pressures and late nationalist demands for the collapse of talks.
UUP negotiator Reg Empey denied that a deal was struck before British Prime Minister Tony Blair left Belfast after seven hours of negotiation early Thursday morning.
Mr Empey said: "We see this as a package, not a one-off. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed." He said there was "a possibility" of an agreement before Christmas-but notably warned: "There are no guarantees".
Urgent efforts to reconstruct the deal are continuing, but have been greatly hampered by the departure of the talks participants to Washington and Oslo to accept peace prizes. On Thursday, in a ceremony which will be laden with irony for nationalists, David Trimble receives the Nobel Peace Prize alongside SDLP leader John Hume.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams joins the other party leaders in Washington tomorrow for another awards ceremony, but said he was reluctant to cross the Atlantic because of the stalled process.
He said: "Any illusion that the peace process is in a healthy state or that there is a unity among the party leaders would not just be wrong, but counter productive.
"Most of the party leaders are serious about trying to implement the Agreement, but the Ulster Unionists are on holiday."
Mr Adams added: "David Trimble has to know that the peace process is not just about picking up peace prizes."
Speaking after a 90 minute meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin, Adams said on Friday it had been "a very, very bad week" for the peace process. He "could not underestimate the seriousness of this impending crisis," he said. It was vital for both governments-especially Tony Blair's-to mount a concerted effort to create the agreed power-sharing executive, all-Ireland bodies and a council of ministers.
Mr Trimble had no intention except in his own terms and in his own time of coming to an agreement this week.
"David Trimble is already talking about May, he is already talking that the legislative timetable couldn't be kept by January anyway."
POLITICAL UNIONISM
"I am asking people to consider that there is some validity in Sinn Fein's view that political unionism, as opposed to civic or business or church or community unionism, doesn't want to see these changes."
He said that when he met David Trimble on Thursday he told the first minister designate that he was "playing a blinder-he wasn't making peace.
"He's playing a blinder in terms of diluting and protracting, slowing and delaying all of this."
He said by going through the motions of negotiating on Wednesday, unionists were "able to mess about a British prime minister in a way in which many Irish republicans would have been proud of.
"They were also able to stand up an Irish Taoiseach. "They are very pleased with themselves and in a very crass, frivolous way."
He confirmed that he was the last person to talk to Tony Blair before he left the Six Counties early on Thursday morning. Mr Adams said Blair assured him there would be a deal by that evening.
"And I said ‚don't be too sure-it will not be done in your absence'." But when Blair left, the deal went with him.
Republicans now believe the only way an agreement can be reached is with the British Prime Minister at the table.
But Mr Empey, a former Belfast Lord Mayor and one of his party's Assembly members, felt there was no need for Mr Blair to return to Belfast. He said: "I see no benefit in that. I think all this high profile stuff can be counter productive," he said.
RUC harassment at Patten Commission hearing
Republicans attending a meeting of the Patten commission in Armagh were harassed by plain-clothed RUC detectives last night.
The meeting was the latest in a series called by the Patten Commission, which is responsible for developing an acceptable policing service for the Six Counties.
The detectives used the meeting to question a prominent republican, but when confronted left the St Patrick's Trian centre in Armagh.
Sinn Fein Councillor Mr McGirr said: "As far as we are concerned they were gathering information. This was totally uncalled for. It was a breach of the whole discussion of the future of the police service."
The incident comes after a number of nationalists who attended the Patten Commission's public hearings in Belfast were later told by the RUC they were on a loyalist death list.
Other community leaders who have called for the RUC's disbandment hav been stopped and interrogated or have found their houses under RUC video surveillance.
A Patten commission spokesman said: "The meetings are open to everyone, we don't inquire of people as to who they are or what they are."
Analysis: Unionists continue to unpick the Agreement
Gerry Adams, writing from Washington, outlines the continuing Unionist strategy to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement
This time I came to the United States with some reluctance. Not for any personal reason or sudden dissatisfaction with the USA. On the contrary, the place continues to intrigue me. My reluctance this time was due to the behaviour of UUP leader and First Minister designate David Trimble.
Last week he reneged on a deal to put the peace process back on course. This week he and I, and the rest of the party leaders are in the United States to receive peace prizes. But the process has to be about delivering peace, not pocketing peace prizes. Mr Trimble doesn't seem to realise that. The rest of us do.
John Hume, for example, is a worthy recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. I wish him well. I also wish David Trimble well. But I hope he rises to the honour being bestowed upon him. His behaviour last week shows he has a long way to go.
Last week, having agreed in principle on ten departments for the new executive in the north of Ireland and having agreed in principle on some of the all-Ireland implementation and policy making bodies in intense discussions involving the British Prime Minister, the SDLP, Sinn Fein and the Irish government, Mr Trimble back-pedaled.
The discussions took place up at Stormont. Mr Blair flew in to be personally involved. The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was at the end of the phone. For the previous five or six weeks his government had engaged with the rest of us to get a broad sense of what was required on the issues under discussion.
Those of us who engaged positively were concerned to agree the departments and implementation bodies so that the two governments could pass legislation in time to keep the process in tune with the second deadline for February.
Due to the success of the unionist delaying tactics, one deadline has been missed already. That was for 31 October when all the institutions were to be in shadow formation. That is, the Assembly, the Executive, the Council of Ministers, the All-Ireland bodies, the Civic Forum and so on. Power is to be given to these institutions in February. All of this was agreed on Good Friday.
Last Thursday, at two o'clock in the morning, as Mr Blair was leaving Stormont he told me; "There will be agreement on the departments and bodies by this evening." "Don't be too sure," I cautioned him; "The unionists won't close on this in your absence."
I left Stormont at 2:30am. I was back at 9 o'clock. By noon, after a series of meetings with Dublin, the British Secretary of State and with the SDLP it was clear that my fears were well founded. The deal was being undone.
At 2:30pm I met Mr Trimble. He conceded that "there was agreement in principle on ten departments." But he declared that he couldn't go above six All-Ireland bodies. It was obvious that he wanted to dump the more substantive ones-as well as the Irish language and an Equality Department. The Inward Investment element was also out. But even though this is not acceptable to Sinn Fein that was not the problem.
The problem was, according to Mr Trimble, that it would take a lot more time to sort out the matters he was prepared to close on. He couldn't rush. There was no hurry. And he was too busy.
And there you have it. Forced to negotiate because the British Prime Minister was present, the unionists made some, not enough, but some progress. Freed up from that imperative by Mr Blair's absence, the unionists unraveled the progress. Tony Blair was said to be livid. So was Bertie Ahern. David Trimble was relaxed. He had seen off a British Prime Minister. He had stopped a Taoiseach, who planned to travel north to close the deal, from doing so. He had frustrated the SDLP. Mr Trimble was playing a blinder. I told him so. But he wasn't making peace. I told him that also.
John Taylor, UUP deputy leader, suggested that everyone take a holiday. On Friday Mr. Trimble did just that. The rest of his team took Mr.Taylor's advice and followed Mr Trimble's example. There wasn't one of them to be seen about the place.
On Monday morning I spoke by phone to Mr Blair. On Friday I had a meeting with Mr Ahern. I put it to them that the unionist veto was being used. That Mr Trimble was playing a long, slow hand. That the two governments have to step in. Decisively! They have to get the process back on course before Christmas. Martin McGuinness met Mr Blair on Wednesday. He will lead a team into talks with the Irish government. We will engage again with the SDLP.
I had a 50 minute meeting this week with President Clinton and Hillary Clinton. I said to the President as I said to the Taoiseach a few days ago and when I spoke to the Prime Minister in London by telephone that the deal that was done last week and then undone by the unionists needs to be put together again. That the Equality department needs to be in it, that the inward investment element that was taken out must be put back in. The Irish language implementation body must be included. And all of this must be and can be agreed before Christmas.
President Clinton is very focused, he's very up to date on what happened last week. He understands the need to make peace urgently and I think he appreciates that the entire agreement needs to be implemented and that the quicker that's done, the better for the future and for the promotion of the peace process. I think it was a very good meeting, a very constructive meeting and a very focused meeting.
The Good Friday Agreement, as the day tells us, was at Easter. It's now Christmas. That's a long time in terms of putting together commitments which were made at that time and which are clearly within the gift of the parties to deliver upon. My view is that the unionists are tactically engaging and that what we saw last week was a cameo presentation of what's been happening since last Friday. From their point of view they want to dilute, they want to stretch, they want to hollow out the core, the substance. It's all renegotiation all the time. And I think if you spoke to all the participants other than the UUP and even though the governments have to put a positive spin on it, they would have to admit the same thing. That there is a renegotiation ongoing in perpetuity on issues which we thought were settled on Good Friday.
I raised the decommissioning issue in my meeting with the President and pointed up the mechanism within the Good Friday Agreement as the means that we agreed to resolve that problem. And that mechanism has not been used. We're involved in it, General de Chastelain is doing his best but all of the parties aren't involved in it.
It's interesting that when I met with David Trimble last week in Belfast, in a 40 minute conversation he never even mentioned the issue of decommissioning. That gives you a sense of what this is about. It's about implementing all aspects of the agreement within the time frames agreed. Already one deadline has been missed. We're heading to miss another deadline. The responsibility for that lies with those who are protracting the process and not keeping their commitments.
And that means that we, who are in political leadership keeping the promises that we made.
But it takes everyone to play his part. David Trimble has to face up to his responsibilities. And Mr Blair has to tell him so.