August Holiday Weekend, 30 July - 1 August
Thursday, 29 July, 1999
Wednesday, 28 July 1999
Friday/Saturday, 23/24 July, 1999Thursday, 15, July, 1999
August Holiday Weekend, 30 July - 1 August
Sinn Féin expulsion sought after body find
Loyalist representative David Ervine, whose party has links to the Ulster Volunteer Force, claimed the IRA ceasefire was beginning to „unravel“. after a Belfast man was found shot dead off the Falls Road in west Belfast on Friday.
Newspaper reports have claimed the man, Charles ‚Chuckie‘ Bennett, a taxi driver from New Lodge, had been an RUC informer for several years.
Unionists also blamed the IRA for the killing and called for Sinn Féin to be expelled from the Belfast Assembly. Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the killing bore „all the hallmarks of the IRA“.
He called on the British government to halt prisoner releases, adding: „It demonstrates once again the lack of commitment on the part of republicans to exclusively peaceful means.“
Offering his condolences to the Bennett family, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said it was „a terrible thing for any family regardless of what is involved, who is involved or why this man was killed.“
But the west Belfast MP insisted that the IRA cessation was still intact, and he had heard nothing to the contrary to suggest anything else.
He also said that this was the case when asked about arrests last week for gun running from the US. He said he understood claims made by the prosecution alleging IRA involvement had been denied by the defence, but that both incidents were causes of concern to him.
Sinn Féin Assembly member Alex Maskey accused loyalist leaders of ignoring regular loyalist violence, recent arms finds in loyalist areas and feuding between the loyalist organisations.
He also accused unionist politicians of „jumping at every opportunity“ to seek Sinn Féin‘s exclusion from the Assembly.
„That has been the policy of unionism for some time which has sought to exclude Sinn Féin and other nationalists.“
No Renegotiation of Good Friday Agreement - Adams
Sinn Féin' s leadership has still to make a firm decision on whether or not the party will participate in the review of the Good Friday Agreement being conducted by Senator Mitchell.
At a meeting of the party¹s Ard Chomhairle at the weekend, it agreed that the review should examine the areas in which the Agreement has not been implemented. However, in a press conference at Stormont Castle in Belfast today, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said that „deep concern“ was „repeatedly expressed“ that the Ulster Unionist Party would turn the review into another renegotiation on the establishment of the political institutions—an issue which was agreed on Good Friday 1998, he added.
While Sinn Féin is deciding its approach to the review, it is seeking a substantive round of discussions with the UUP „at various levels, both formal and informal, in a concerted attempt to find a way forward“.
Mr Adams said it was „critical“ that there is a greater understanding of the unionist position.
„The UUP are blocking the implementation of the Agreement and it is obviously essential that the motivation for this position is fully explored,“ he said.
Mr Adams said that even the Belfast Assembly, without powers, an Executive, or committees, was not that envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement.
On the ground there had been no progress on the equality agenda; no progress on demilitarisation; no freedom to live free from sectarian harassment; no new policing service.
Said Adams: „It is important to recall that in September 1997, David Trimble declared that he was not going into Castle Buildings to negotiate with Sinn Féin, he was going to put Sinn Féin out.
„Since then he has made and then reneged on one agreement after another, in terms of the north/south institutions on the 2nd and 18th December, and on the setting up of the Executive in Downing Street on 14th May.
„He walked through one deadline after another -- 31st October, 10th March, 29th March, 22nd May, June 30th, July 2nd—until he ensured the failure of efforts to establish the institutions two weeks ago.
„Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the only requirement for Executive office is sufficient electoral support. A further renegotiation of this issue to meet UUP demands is totally unacceptable.“
Speaking to a large media gathering in an otherwise deserted Stormont, Mr Adams said the UUP did not want change except on its own terms. He pointed out that the Ulster Unionist position of „no guns - no government“ was beyond the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Adams warned that if the review failed, the UUP had proved the North was ungovernable. „The Good Friday agreement in our view provides the only way forward. It cannot be renegotiated at the behest of unionism. For us, it is the absolute bottom line.“
He recalled that Sinn Féin had „acknowledged and commended the positive way“ that the British Prime Minister approached the peace process— despite Blair¹s failure to hold up to his own end of the agreement, such as the equality agenda and demilitarisation.
Again urging him to stand up to unionists, Mr Adams said Mr Blair „holds the key“ to the success of the peace process.
„The macho Afrikaner elements within unionism are challenging the British government and that is a challenge Mr Blair will have to take up,“ said Mr Adams. „We will assist positively and progressively everyone in this process - provided there is no renegotiation of the agreement.“
Good Friday Agreement Only Way Forward: Adams
From the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998 until the UUP prevented the transfer of power and the establishment of the institutions two weeks ago - a period of almost 16 months - the peace process has limped from one unionist induced crisis to another.
This period of time could have been used to fulfil the huge expectations generated by the all-Ireland referenda in May of last year. It could have been a period during which the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement took hold, when Irish nationalists, unionists and the British stepped towards each other in an effort to put behind us the enmity resulting from centuries of conflict.
It could have been a time when former enemies gave space to each other to learn new ways of thinking, of speaking, of trying to understand one another. A time of certainty and decisive, forward looking leadership to demonstrate that we had opened a new chapter in Irish-British history - one of compromise, tolerance and genuine reconciliation.
Instead the last 16 months will be remembered as a time of recrimination, of bitterness, of the sharp word. The failure to establish the Executive and the all-Ireland Ministerial Council is a damaging blow against the Good Friday Agreement. That failure sent shockwaves through popular opinion here, in Britain and the U.S. It causes uncertainty about the future. At a time when politics must be seen to work, to deliver change, we have a political vacuum which remains unfilled.
What we are dealing with here is not a blip but the possible melt-down of the political conditions that led to the Good Friday Agreement.
While the UUP leadership caused the breakdown in the Executive and the other institutions, their approach is totally consistent with their own narrow interests. The UUP does not want change, except on its own terms. Nationalists and republicans seek to manage change, change which is essential if there is to be justice. Unionism seeks only to limit or prevent that change.
Unionism has not moved beyond the politics of intransigence and obstruction because, up to this point, it has not needed to. The politics of intransigence and obstruction have worked. The British government have pandered to negative unionism, have not defended the Agreement which the British government and the UUP signed up to and have allowed the UUP to set the pace.
As so often in the past, and with such disastrous consequences, the UUP and the securocrats are effectively dictating the British government‘s tactical approach on Ireland.
The Peace Process
Almost daily since August 1994 people throughout Ireland have lived and breathed the most intricate details of the latest crisis in the peace process. Worn down or turned off by the negative arguments used quite blatantly by unionism to rob the process of its potential, it is easy to forget what this process is really about, where it came from and what it was designed to achieve.
Sinn Féin‘s commitment to this process goes back more than a decade and was signaled publicly with the publishing of ‚Towards a Lasting Peace‘ in 1991. It set out the basis of a strategy which Sinn Féin believed could resolve the causes of conflict and deliver a lasting peace settlement.
The publication of this discussion document was followed by many initiatives which republicans have taken both unilaterally and along with others in nationalist Ireland and abroad in pursuit of this strategy.
Most critical among these were the talks between John Hume and Gerry Adams in 1993/1994, which kick-started the peace process, and the IRA cessations of 1994 and 1997, and which created the best opportunity for peace in Ireland this century.
Even in the wake of the IRA cessations, and despite their dramatic impact on the political climate, the British government adhered to the old agenda with increased demands on republicans and the offensive demand for a so-called decontamination period.
Furthermore despite the risk of a destabilising effect on our own constituency we sought and secured our party‘s support for the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. This required that we amend our party‘s constitution and removed a 75 year ban on members taking seats in any 6 County Assembly.
For almost 16 months we have continuously used our influence positively to effect it‘s full implementation.
Most recently, in the Castle Building discussions in late June, we took a further initiative in an attempt to overcome the impasse. This initiative, which was described by the two governments as a seismic shift, was rejected repeatedly by the UUP.
British Government Stewardship
Despite the negative approach of unionism towards the Good Friday Agreement, the primary responsibility for the failure to implement it in key areas lies ultimately with the British government.
The failure of David Trimble to lead his party into the structures which he agreed on Good Friday 1998 cannot be used as an excuse by the British government to evade it‘s responsibilities as a participant and as one of the two governments charged with overseeing the implementation of the Agreement.
By indulging David Trimble in his delaying strategy and by pandering to unionist rejectionism the British government has encouraged that intransigence.
The Good Friday Agreement promised a new beginning for everyone on this island. Sinn Féin persuaded our party and our electorate to support it on the basis that it established inclusive structures with a strong All-Ireland aspect and that it would be working to an agenda of justice, equality and change.
16 months later none of the institutions has been put in place. Even the Assembly, which has been in a limbo existence since 25 June last year, is not that envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement. It has no powers, no Executive, no statutory committees. It cannot even meet, and has not met since March, save for that one desperate attempt to breath life into its structures on July 15 this year, a meeting which, bizarrely, was boycotted by its own First Minister David Trimble.
On the ground there has been no progress on the equality agenda in terms of its effect on the day to day lives of people. There has been no progress on demilitarisation with the British government yet to fulfil even the minimal requirement to publish a ‚normalisation‘ paper.
The people of the Garvaghy Road and other isolated nationalist communities have yet to see evidence of their right to live free from sectarian harassment. Repressive legislation has not been repealed but strengthened.
The RUC remains unchanged, unable and unwilling to root out the culture of collusion between its members and loyalist paramilitaries and unwilling to challenge wrong-dong within the force. This was seen most starkly in the murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson and the most recent revelations about the murder of Pat Finucane. Rosemary Nelson‘s murder was part of a catalogue of sectarian loyalist attacks, including several murders, since the Good Friday Agreement.
There is a deep commitment in the republican and nationalist community to the peace process. But there is also deep anger that the Good Friday Agreement - a product of the peace process - has been blocked at every juncture by unionism with the indulgence of the British government.
We have seen a succession of missed deadlines and broken agreements.
On 1 July 1998 David Trimble was elected First Minister and Seamus Mallon Deputy First Minister. On 20 July in the House of Commons David Trimble made his intentions clear when he said he would seek to have Sinn Féin excluded from office in any Executive. The summer passed with no Executive formed.
It was not until 10 September, over two months after his election as First Minister, that David Trimble agreed to meet Gerry Adams.
The all-Ireland bodies were due to be established through the shadow Ministerial Council by 31 October. Because of Unionist refusal to enter an Executive this deadline was missed. Expectations that this would be done before David Trimble and John Hume accepted their Nobel Peace Prizes on 10 December were also dashed.
On 13 January a new deadline was set by the British government for 10 March 1999. Once again this deadline was allowed to pass. Five days later Rosemary Nelson was murdered.
A new deadline of the week beginning the 29 March was set to ensure that the institutions were established before the first anniversary of the Agreement on 10 April. Once more the deadline passed.
Yet another deadline, an absolute deadline the British government told us was set for 30 June. That ended with the collapse of the Executive at Stormont on 15 July.
At every turn the British government has compounded the crisis by pandering to unionism and effectively rewriting the Agreement. Rather than acknowledging and responding positively David Trimble has used every available opportunity to obstruct progress and prevent meaningful change.
The UUP
David Trimble‘s approach to the peace processs should have come as no surprise. It had been well signalled. When, in September 1997, he walked into the negotiations at Castle Buildings flanked by representatives of the UDA and the UVF he declared that he was not going in to negotiate with Sinn Féin, that he was going in to put Sinn Féin out. Since then his strategy has been to assert unionist domination and control of the political process by imposing the unionist veto.
Rather than seek an accommodation with Sinn Féin, his strategy has been to secure the exclusion of Sinn Féin.
Having reluctantly signed up to the Good Friday agreement he has sought at every available opportunity to reduce its impact. He casually made and then reneged on one agreement after another, in terms of the all-Ireland institutions on 2nd and 18th December, and on the setting up of the Executive in Downing Street on 14th May. He walked through one deadline after another, 31st October, 10th March, 29th March, 22nd May, June 30th, July 2nd until he collapsed the institutions two weeks ago. He sought concession after concession and always beyond the terms of the Agreement. Once given, he sought more.
He ran behind the ‚NO‘ camp instead of standing by the Good Friday agreement and giving leadership to those inside unionism who want tot look forward not backwards.
In competition with other strands of unionism for political leadership David Trimble has presided over a lurch to the right inside his own and other smaller unionist parties.
He has moved the UUP to an anti-agreement, rejectionist position. He put party political concerns above the needs of the Good Friday Agreement, above the needs of the peace process.
David Trimble has succeeded in blocking progress and collapsing the institutions. But the responsibility is not his alone.
The British government needs to rectify the situation by changing its tactical approach. Tony Blair must ensure that the unionist writ is confined to Glengall Street and doesn‘t run in Downing Street. The reality is that the peace process cannot be successful if it is subject to a unionist veto. The Good Friday Agreement will never deliver on its undoubted potential if its implementation is filtered through unionism.
Review
On Saturday, July 24, against this difficult backdrop, the Sinn Féin negotiating team reported to the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle on the preliminary discussions with Senator Mitchell and last weeks meeting with the British government.
The Ard Chomhairle took the view that the refusal of the UUP to share power with nationalists and republicans, and the consequent collapse of the Executive, requires urgent and immediate action by the two governments. It is in our view essential that the two governments proceed with the other elements of the Agreement.
Given the faltering approach of the British government to date there is a particular onus on the Irish government to continue to energetically pursue the implementation of these aspects of the Agreement, to defend and advance the rights of all Irish citizens and of the people of Ireland as a whole.
In addition the two governments must seek to ensure that the UUP fulfil its obligations under the terms of the agreement or, failing this, ensure the establishment, under their auspices, of meaningful institutions, including a range of all-Ireland policy and implementation bodies.
But there is only one area of the Agreement which has totally broken down and this is in regards to the political institutions. This is the area that the review should address and this is the difficulty which it must overcome.
The Ard Chomhairle agreed that any review should examine the areas of non-implementation and ensure that these are effectively dealt with. However, deep concern was repeatedly expressed that the review would become, at the insistence of the UUP, the cover for yet another renegotiation on the establishment of the political institutions - an issue which was discussed in detail, resolved and agreed on Good Friday 1998.
The UUP have, however, refused to act on this agreement and have repeatedly sought to renegotiate the Agreement and to tie this element of it, in a manner beyond the terms of the agreement, to the issue of decommissioning.
The shadow institutions should have been in place last July, immediately following the election of the First and Deputy First Ministers. In the past year this issue has been renegotiated 4 times - at Hillsborough, twice in Downing Street and most recently in Castle Buildings. Each time Sinn Féin has moved to create space for the UUP, each time our initiatives have been rejected and abused. The UUP have held to their position of „no guns, no government“ which is outside the terms of the Agreement.
The reality, both in terms of democratic principles and under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, is that the only requirement for Executive office is sufficient electoral support.
A further renegotiation of this issue to meet UUP demands is totally unacceptable. Given the uncertainty surrounding the conduct of the review, the Ard Chomhairle declined, at this time, to make a firm decision on whether or not Sinn Féin would participate in the review being conducted by Senator Mitchell.
Engaging the UUP
While Sinn Féin‘s approach to the review has yet to be decided, the Ard Chomhairle did decide to engage in a substantive round of discussion with the UUP over the coming weeks. We are seeking a range of meetings with the UUP, at various level, both formal and informal, in a concerted attempt to find a way forward. It is, in our view, critical that there is a greater understanding of each other‘s positions so that every possibility of salvaging the Good Friday Agreement is fully explored. The UUP are blocking the implementation of the Agreement and it is obviously essential that the motivation for this position is fully explored.
In order to facilitate these discussions we are prepared to conduct these meetings in private and away from the glare of publicity which, at times, adversely affects the conduct of the discussion themselves. We have been in contact with the UUP and intend to commence this engagement in the immediate period ahead.
Decommissioning
Decommissioning was addressed comprehensively in the negotiations leading up to Good Friday and is addressed directly in the Agreement itself. The section on decommissioning makes clear that addressing this issue is dependant on two key elements;
Unfortunately the UUP do not.
The reality is that for almost 16 months we have been attempting to address this issue in the context of the non-implementation of the Agreement and with the UUP refusing to work in good faith to create more favourable political conditions. On the contrary, the UUP have been mis-using this issue both to block the establishment of the inclusive political institutions agreed on Good Friday and also in pursuit of their objective of excluding republicans from government.
The decommissioning section of the Good Friday Agreement is free standing.
Entitlement to Executive office is dependant only on electoral support and taking and honouring the pledge of office. Any attempt to exclude Sinn Féin on the basis of a failure to achieve decommissioning is beyond the terms of the Agreement and would be totally unacceptable.
Conclusion
The harsh and unpalatable reality that we are facing almost 16 months after the Good Friday Agreement was concluded, is that it has not ben implemented, its potential has not been realised and the change which it promised has not materialised. At a time when those, including the Sinn Féin leadership, have been arguing that politics can and will deliver change, change has been prevented. At a time when we needed an effective, visible and dynamic alternative to conflict we have been presented with a political vacuum, the abdication of political leadership and the initiative handed to those, on all sides, who want to return to the failures of the past.
No-one should underestimate the depth or seriousness of the crisis we are facing.
If the Good Friday Agreement is to be salvaged, if the peace process is to make progress the British tactical approach has to change. The instinctive unionism within the British military and political system has to be confronted.
The Good Friday Agreement was signed up to by the British government. It is British government policy. The British government have a responsibility to implement the Agreement as negotiated, not in a manner demanded by the UUP, which is outside the terms of the Agreement.
It would be preferable if the UUP, and unionism generally embraced the spirit and the letter of the Agreement. But the Good Friday Agreement was voted for by a majority of the electorate in the two states on this island.
It cannot be subjected to a minority unionist veto. It has to be implemented. That is the democratic imperative.
If it is to be objective, genuine and within the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the review which will take place in September, under the chairmanship of Senator George Mitchell, must address the failure to establish the political institutions as agreed on Good Friday last year. This is the area of fundamental breakdown. It must examine the causes of the breakdown, including a close examination of the role played by he British government, and it must ultimately identify the source of the breakdown and how, within the terms of the Good Friday Agreement it should be overcome.
While Sinn Féin is justifiably critical of the British government we have acknowledged and commended the positive way that Mr Blair approached the peace process. At the first meeting between this government and the Sinn Féin leadership I said to Mr Blair that the question of Ireland would be the single biggest challenge facing him throughout his term or terms in office.
Republicans understand the historic nature and the monumental shifts which are required if the peace process is to succeed, It cannot succeed without Tony Blair. He holds the key.
This process still remains the best chance for peace. If it is to succeed all participants must refocus so that the Agreement is implemented. Only the British government can create the conditions which will bring this about.
The Good Friday Agreement provides the only way forward. It cannot be renegotiated at the behest of unionism. For Sinn Féin it the absolute bottomline.
Friday/Saturday, 23/24 July, 1999
Analysis: Unionists cannot write script for Blair
By Sean Brady
Last week witnessed the outworking of Ulster Unionist Party strategy of obstructing totally any implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, particularly the all-Ireland ministerial bodies, while maintaining the Six County Assembly.
We have now entered the second phase of the Unionist strategy which is aimed at preventing any movement up and until the May 2000 target date for arms decommissioning.
Responsibility for taking the initiative back from those who have no interest in implementing the Agreement and injecting momentum into the process once again lies clearly with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
David Trimble has succeeded in running the Good Friday Agreement into the ground over the past year. His party sucessfully blocked the establishment of political institutions and forced the two governments to break any deadline they have ever set.
The Ulster Unionist Party leadership, while ostensibly pro-Agreement, are in fact prisoners of the DUP rejectionists and the anti-Agreement members of their own Assembly party. To expect the UUP to contribute to making progress in the time ahead would mean David Trimble facing down members of his Assembly team, which he will not do. Indeed, the anti-Agreement UUP members have been encouraged further by last week‘s events and will now seek to take overall control of the direction of the proces. They will attempt to obstruct the equality agenda and the implementation of the recommendations of the Patten Reoprt on the RUC and will again use prior IRA decommissioning as a precondition for everything and anything.
Any prospect of progress is now down to the British Prime Minister standing firm and applying direct pressure on David Trimble to face up to what was negotiated on Good Friday 1998 and implementing it.
But the problem now is with British government policy itself, which needs to be changed if there is any to be any hope of progress. Last week, Tony Blair buckled in the face of Unionist intransigence and immobility. He blinked and ended up playing right into the hands of those who had held up the process for over a year. He rushed legislation through the British Houses of Parliament and rode roughshod over the Agreement in an effort to pander to David Trimble. And where did it get him? Absolutely nowhere. Blair‘s outrageous concessions amounted to a return to the policy of political exclusion, but Trimble rejected them without a second thought.
He showed utter contempt for his own Prime Minister, for all of the other parties and for the process itself and demonstrated his total lack of commitment to the process when he refused even to attend the Assembly sitting which was to appoint the Executive.
Tony Blair‘s capitulation to Unionist wrecking tactics will have to be reversed if anything is to be salvaged from last week‘s fiasco.
Last week‘s events must demonstrate clearly to Tony Blair that the more concessions that are given to the Ulster Unionist Party, the more they demand. Their engagement with the political process is dictated by their strategy of slowing down the pace of political change and their objective is to hollow out the Good Friday Agreement until all of its progressive aspects have been shed and the Agreement itself is unrecognisable. Concessions and broken deadlines merely show the unionists that their strategy is working and encourages them even further to do nothing.
The governments have announced the return of former U.S. Senator George Mitchell as facilitator in the review of the Agreement‘s implementation. Mitchell‘s return is to be warmly welcomed and Sinn Féin held a meeting with him on Wednesday but we must not lose sight of the fact that for two years George Mitchell tried unsuccessfully to get progress and momentum in political talks and it was only through the direct intervention of the British Prime Minister that unionist minds were focused and the pace was eventually forced.
Sinn Féin representatives meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday. He was told that the issue remains that Unionists must be confronted directly by their own government and faced with the political facts. They cannot continue to rewrite the script for the British government. Their interia and political immaturity cannot be continually underwritten or else they will have no incentive to move. That has been the kernel of the problem in Ireland for decades. It is clear to everyone that Unionist political leaders have refused to change their spots and have now introduced their political veto into the post-Good Friday scenario. This is what the Agreement was supposed to move us beyond.
Any review of the implementation of the Agreement must be very focused and time-limited so that it too does not become another vehicle for the unionist strategy of stalling progress and unravelling the Agreement itself.
Return to deadlock - Mr Mitchell has much to mend
The Guardian - Editorial
What should the former US Senator George Mitchell do now that he's back in Northern Ireland, trying to save the Good Friday agreement he helped broker? "Pray," says one thoughtful republican. The land he helped set on the road to peace and self-government last Easter has fallen back into tension and paralysis. Last week's moment of truth came and went, the Ulster Unionists refusing to sign up for the all-party executive that was meant to take over as the new government of Northern Ireland. Their leader, David Trimble, said he could not sit in such a body alongside Sinn Fein unless the IRA handed over their weapons first - even though no such demand is contained in the Good Friday text. So the agreement is now "parked" in a state of review that will not resume until September 6. Senator Mitchell has to restart a vehicle that is stalled and out of gas.
He will have gained no encouragement from the instant interpretations of the IRA statement on Wednesday. That was viewed as, at best, a hardline return to old obstinacy and, at worst, a threat to end the ceasefire after nearly two years. The text certainly contains bleak language. Pessimists have seized on the reminder that the first ceasefire ended because John Major's government sought "an IRA surrender," and that the current demand for arms amounted to a quest "for the defeat of the IRA." Implication: push us like you did last time, and you know what will happen.
But the document also restates a "definitive commitment" to the peace process and an important hint of flexibility, contained in the qualifier "in the current political context" - suggesting that if the context changed, disarmament might not be impossible. The fact that the statement does not rule out a weapons handover - and never uses the word "never" - is also a hopeful sign. For all that, one message comes across loud and clear. It's the same message conveyed last week by the SDLP's Seamus Mallon when he resigned as Ulster's deputy first minister. "Nationalism is undergoing a deep crisis," says one player. From moderates like Mallon to hardliners represented by the IRA, nationalist-republican opinion in Ulster feels badly let down. The target of their ire is not so much David Trimble - they expect unionists to fight for unionism - but Tony Blair, for letting the UUP block the Good Friday agreement. They believe the prime minister needed to face down Trimble last week, to insist that unionists were in violation of the obligations they took on last Easter. For their part, Sinn Fein had won the "seismic shift" of an IRA undertaking that decommissioning would happen by May 2000 so long as the rest of the agreement was implemented. That shift was passed on to Blair - but instead of using it to put pressure on Trimble, the PM promptly handed the unionists further concessions, all of which were instantly rejected.
The result now is the increasing nationalist belief that, for all the grand talk of cross-community support, unionism still has a veto over policy in the province. And for that they blame Tony Blair. The peace process has always worked on the pragmatic assumption that, while Dublin delivers Sinn Fein, London has to deliver the unionists - pushing and cajoling as necessary. Now London is seen as having fallen down on its side of the bargain. If Blair is to win back trust he should not be considering yet more concessions to the unionists - the removal of Mo Mowlam, for example. Rather he should be preparing to stand up to those who stand in the way of peace.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999
IRA Statement
The full text of an IRA statement which was published in An Phoblacht/Republican News and which is referred to in the Guardian article printed above.
The argument that the present political process can deliver real and meaningful change has been significantly undermined by the course of events over the past 15 months. This culminated in the failure last week to establish the political institutions set out in the Good Friday Agreement.
The agreement has failed to deliver tangible progress and its potential for doing so has substantially diminished in recent months.
The credibility and motivation of unionist leaders who signed up to the agreement is clearly open to question. They have repeatedly reneged on the commitments they made in signing the agreement and successfully blocked the implementation of its institutional aspects. It is clearly their intention to continue their obstructionist tactics indefinitely. There is irrefutable evidence that the unionist political leadership remains, at this time, opposed to a democratic peace settlement.
Recent events at Stormont cannot obscure the fact that the primary responsibility for the developing political crisis rests squarely with the British government. They have once again demonstrated a lack of political will to confront the Unionist veto.
Over the past 5 years we have called and maintained two prolonged cessations of military operations to enhance the peace process and underline our definitive commitment to its success. We have contributed in a meaningful way to the creation of a climate which would facilitate the search for a durable settlement.
The first of these cessations floundered on the demand by the Conservative government for an IRA surrender. Those who demand the decommissioning of IRA weapons lend themselves, in the current political context, inadvertently or otherwise, to the failed agenda which seeks the defeat of the IRA. The British government have the power to change that context and should do so.
It remains our view that the roots of conflict in our country lie in British involvement in Irish affairs. Responsibility for repairing the damage to the argument that the present political process can deliver real change rests primarily with the British government.
ENDS
Ulster’s bleak hour
The Guardian – Editorial
Trimble has missed the moment.
When the Good Friday agreement was signed last year there was much hopeful talk of a new dawn for Northern Ireland. Yesterday seemed to send the province back into a bleak dusk. The Ulster Unionist party stared history in the face, and decided to look the other way. They rejected what is universally understood to be Ulster’s best chance for peace in a generation, thereby humiliating a British prime minister and sending the community they purport to lead into what could be a summer of fear and despair.
Unless there is a dramatic change of heart today, the decision by the UUP Executive to break up after just 15 minutes with a defiant refusal to compromise, means that today will not see the creation of a new government for Northern Ireland after all. Instead the Unionists, holding to their demand for prior decommissioning by the IRA, will block the establishment of an executive for the province, refusing to nominate people to fill their three ministerial places on it. With no executive, the Good Friday agreement risks becoming a dead letter. The peace process might now be „parked“ into abeyance over the summer, but - if Sinn Fein’s reaction to last night’s UUP decision is anything to go by – even that may be too optimistic. Nationalist and republican patience has been stretched to the limit already: more militant members of the community are bound to feel they have been led a merry dance that has gone on too long. The Unionist assumption that the republican constituency can be made to wait forever is about to be tested. This is a dread prospect indeed.
The Unionist councillor who emerged from last night’s meeting to declare immediately that none of this was the UUP’s fault – that they didn’t start it – needs to be set straight. First blame goes to the Ulster Unionist hardliners who have given every impression of wanting this agreement to fail since the day it was signed. Their constant demand for prior IRA decommissioning ignores the black-and-white letter of the Good Friday agreement which made no such request. Their 14-month attempt to renegotiate that text is the reason why the process has been so stalled. David Trimble’s preference for following Unionist opinion, rather than leading it, is the second target of blame. He could have played the statesman last night, urging his party to take a risk for peace – like every other great peacemaker from Yitzhak Rabin to FW de Klerk has done. But no. Yesterday Trimble seized the moment not to make history, but to buy more time. His eye is on the small picture, of fending off the leadership challenge of the hardliner, Jeffrey Donaldson, not the big picture of delivering peace to Northern Ireland.
But Unionism does not bear the burden of blame alone. Tony Blair’s stewardship of the peace process has bee an object of constant admiration throughout – from this newspaper and around the world. His great achievment was to transform the British government from a partisan player in the conflict into an honest broker capable of resolving it. He has been trusted by all sides, a fact which culminated in the Good Friday agreement itself – a personal achievment which remains the greatest success of his administration. But yesterday, in his understandable desperation to save that accord, he broke his own rules. He strayed outside the agreement, offering sweeteners to lure the Unionists which appear not to have been cleared with the other parties to the process – not Sinn Fein, not the Social Democratic and Labour party, not even the pivotal Irish government. He offered three new concessions: a timetable for disarmament, automatic suspension of the executive if that timetable is broken and a promise to name and shame the party responsible for bringing the whole lot down. These may be good ideas; some, like the decommissioning process under General John de Chastelain, may not be in Blair’s gift at all. But this is not the point. They are outside the Good Friday agreement, endorsed by three in four Northern Irish voters. Any attempt to venture outside that text has failed: witness Easter’s Hillsborough Declaration. The point was rammed home to the prime minister yesterday by the Unionists’ action. He bent over backwards to help them, and they responded to his gesture with a good kicking. Now his credibility has suffered, as yet another „final, final deadline“ seems about to come and go. All this matters for Tony Blair’s place in history and his standing in the world. But it matters more to the people of Northern Ireland. They thought they voted for a deal last year. They are waiting for their politicians to honour it.
Peace Process on Hold; Agreement Review Announced
The Irish peace process was in turmoil after Ulster Unionists refused to show up in the Belfast Assembly today for the nomination of a new power-sharing executive.
Both Sinn Féin and the SDLP nominated their candidates for Ministerial positions in the absence of the Ulster Unionists.
The so-called "d'Hondt" electoral process was used to allocate the positions in line with each party's strength in the Befast Assembly. But the nominations—including Sinn Féin's Bairbre de Brun as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Development and Martin McGuinness as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development—were short-lived, lasting just 15 minutes.
Presiding officer Lord Alderdice—because of the unionist refusal to take part and the requirement for cross-comunity support—declared the process invalid.
An emotional and exasperated Deputy First Minister, Seamus Mallon of the nationalist SDLP, resigned his position.
The developments left the plan for a power-sharing government in tatters. Britain's governor in Ireland Mo Mowlam, speaking from the British parliament in London, announced a review, not of the Good Friday Agreement, but of its implementation. It is widely expected that the review process will be completed by September or October.
Today's dramatic developments followed directly from the rejection by the Ulster Unionist Party had earlier rejected proposals called ‚The Way Forward' linking the establishment of the Executive with a decommissioning process. ‚The Way Forward' was proposed after a Sinn Féin initiative described by the two governments as "seismic" and "historic" during the negotiations was rejected repeatedly by the unionists.
There was dismay around the world at the developments as dangerous vacuum began to develop, a vacuum which could yet be exploited by militants opposed to the peace process.
Mr Mallon was furious as he announced his resignation and called on Mr Trimble to do likewise.
Deadline after deadline had been missed, he said. He had used every move in the book to keep the process going, but it was now clear the governments would have to initiate a fundamental review.
Mr Mallon added: "I do this with great reluctance and with recognition of the awesome responsibility that we all have towards lasting peace and the future of all the people of Northern Ireland.
"I now believe that it is the only way in which a meaningful review of all aspects of the agreement will be carried out and subsequent to that a fully inclusive executive can be created on the basis of cross community support."
The UUP refused to comment on Mr Mallon's call for the first minister's resignation.
Mr Blair is expected to meet Mr Ahern next week to discuss how to keep the faltering peace process alive, according to British sources.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said the farce at Stormont would leave people "very angry".
Mr Mallon's resignation was "unfortunate" and Mr Trimble's position "untenable", he said.
The behaviour of Mr Trimble and Mr Paisley had been "disgraceful" he added, and young people, mostly unionists, who were now at university or working in England and Scotland, would not be returning home after what had happened.
Despite that, the Sinn Féin leader said he was still hopeful he would live in an island where young people would be free of violence, sectarian hatred and the prospect of imprisonment.
Mr Adams added: "But I still look for sensible and positive unionism to grab the opportunity which is theirs."
He called on the two governments to now press ahead with the implementation of the rest of the Good Friday Agreement under their control.
"The British government in partnership with the Irish government have to implement all of those aspects of the agreement which are within their direct responsibility," he said. Most of the key areas of agreement were "not up to the unionists".
He said Sinn Féin was not surprised at the way unionism had behaved—it had done so "because political conditions have allowed it to do so".
"This isn't the end of this part of the book, this is the end of this chapter," said Adams. A future with equality and justice for all was still possible, but only if people "leave the political dinosaurs where they belong, which is in the last century".
The negative leadership of unionism had been it the ascendancy, he pointed out—"I hope this is its last hurrah."
We are committed to the Good Friday agreement. Are the UUP and the British government?
Gerry Adams - In The Guardian
At every stage in the peace process, there have been conflicting and confusing signals from some of the participants and from the media. Most of this is unhelpful, though not always malicious. But when seeking to get across a particular view of events, no party can match the British government in resources and influence.
After the latest round of negotiations, the British have been blowing up a storm of media spin. If this had had the effect of settling the unionists, Sinn Féin could take the pain. But it is my certain view that it will not settle the unionist leadership, even if they go into the Executive. On the contrary, it will only unsettle them.
Mr Trimble clearly understands his responsibilities under the terms of the Good Friday agreement. The problem is that these conflict with his role, as he sees it, as UUP leader. It is difficult to know in the twists and turns of the situation how Mr Blair could successfully manage the unionist constituency, but allowing the UUP to open up a process of perpetual negotiation or renegotiation is not the way.
There are frenzied, intense bouts of negotiation within "absolute deadlines" which the unionists generally ignore, and then when the negotiations are finished they continue negotiating bilaterally with the British government in pursuit of more assurances. This is what is happening at the moment.
Mr Blair, for example, asserts: "I can ensure Sinn Féin aren't in the Executive, if they default". The impression is given that Sinn Féin can be expelled if Mr Blair's or General de Chastelain's version of how decommissioning can be accomplished does not succeed. But of course there can be no question of Sinn Féin being expelled or excluded while our party keeps to the terms of the agreement.
There is no need for the exclusion legislation published yesterday under the terms of the agreement. Moreover, its provisions contradict the agreement.
The role of the decommissioning commission is to "facilitate the voluntary decommissioning of firearms". This legislation would significantly change its remit and allow it to lay down ultimatums. It is clear that decommissioning can only be a voluntary act by those in possession of arms.
The legislative change proposed in this week's bill is a fundamental change in the ethos of the agreement. The whole thrust of this bill is to plan for failure, not success. It is a begrudger's charter. It suggests a policy change by the British government which could, in the hands of unreconstructed unionists, become a cover for the return to the failed agenda of exclusion.
It also causes problems for the Irish government who are being asked to put through changes to their constitution, even though the basis of the referendum permitting them to do this has been changed by this British legislation.
These recent developments occurred after an exhausting week of intense negotiations, coming 14 months after the agreement. For 12 of those months, Mr Trimble has been first minister designate. He has refused to fulfil any of the responsibilities which that office entails and he has breached the agreement on a range of issues. He has blocked the establishment of the Executive.
The all-Ireland ministerial council should also have met by this stage. The British government is also in breach of the agreement, most particularly around the issue of demilitarisation. It has refused so far to publish an "overall strategy" on demilitarisation as promised in the Good Friday agreement and by British ministers since then. So the peace process is reduced in many ways to tactical manoeuvrings with little strategic overview.
Of course, Downing Street may argue that the British government has a strategy and that these assurances are aimed not at the unionist leadership but at unionist grassroots opinion. But what of republican and nationalist grassroots opinion? What of the assertion that this process is all about building trust?
Sinn Féin took an initiative in the course of the negotiations which we had carefully worked on for some time. That involved a declaration by me which was much more advanced than anything our party had said on this issue. It contained a genuine belief of how the decommissioning issue could be resolved. It was rejected by the unionists - twice.
I accept that Mr Trimble needed space to get his party policy changed on this matter. I understand his task: in order to sign on for the agreement the Sinn Féin leadership had to convince two Ard Fheiseanna to bring about a change in our constitution, requiring two thirds majority support.
Let me reiterate once again that Sinn Féin's public position on the question of arms is also our private position. I am totally committed to doing everything in my power to maintain the peace process and to removing the guns forever from the politics of our country. But I do not accept any block whatsoever on the right of all sections of our people to enjoy full rights and entitlements. Under the terms of the agreement all of the participants have a responsibility to deal with the decommissioning issue. This includes the two governments.
I believe this British government can be different from its predecessors. I also believe that Mr Blair has a sense of responsibility and has given more time than any other British prime minister to the quest for peace between our two islands and among the people of this island. He knows that Sinn Féin's position has been consistent and that we too want to play a full and advanced role in this quest.
But he knows also, as does the Taoiseach, that we do not represent any other organisation, that Sinn Féin is not the IRA, and that we cannot and we will not enter into any commitments on behalf of the IRA.
Throughout all of our engagements the Sinn Féin team have publicly and privately insisted that it is only through the full implementation of all elements of the agreement, and all the parties discharging our collective responsibility in regards to its terms, that the issue of arms can be finally and satisfactorily settled. This is the best guarantee that guns will never again have a role in the politics of this island.
Our negotiating team has recently been asked by other republicans what assurances were given to the governments with regard to decommissioning. We are asked by other republicans to explain why the British government is so certain that decommissioning will take place shortly after the Executive is formed. We are asked if the IRA will make a statement.
The answer to the first question is contained in the paragraph above. The answer to the second question is one which only the British government can answer. It is not contained in the agreement and Sinn Féin's attitude to any measure is that it has to be in the terms of the agreement. The answer to the third question can only be given by the IRA.
The single most significant act of the past 30 years was the IRA cessation of August 1994. The risk for peace which the IRA took, created what has been universally recognised as the best opportunity for peace in Ireland this century. IRA guns and bombs have remained silent for almost four years.
The IRA cessation holds firm. Its decision to call a "complete cessation of military operations" was built on the work of Sinn Féin, John Hume, Albert Reynolds and Irish America. For the first time the combined efforts of these diverse groups and individuals held out the prospect of fundamental change through an evolving peace process.
The first IRA cessation lasted for 18 months and then collapsed because continuing unionist intransigence was being underpinned by a British Tory strategy which devalued the process, obstructed inclusive negotiations and blocked progress.
A new Labour British government and the continuing efforts of Sinn Féin and others, succeeded in creating the climate in which a second IRA cessation was called. That cessation was built upon the foundation stones of inclusion, dialogue, the removal of preconditions and the honouring of commitments by the British government.
There should be no doubt about Sinn Féin's total commitment to implementing the Good Friday agreement, including resolving the impasse over decommissioning. We want all aspects of this process to work. The choice for the UUP and the British government is clear. Either the unionist veto continues or the Good Friday agreement is implemented.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999
A true test of leadership / Trimble must call his followers' bluff
There are two kinds of leader: those who keep closely in step with their constituency, careful never to move ahead or fall behind, interpreting, manipulating and massaging opinion; and those who are prepared to break ranks on a calculated gamble, planting their standard out in front and challenging their followers to join them. Peacemakers fall in the latter category, and that is the challenge facing David Trimble, the leader of the Ulster Unionist party this morning.
To say that he has a difficult choice is true but obvious: that is the stuff of leadership, especially in Northern Ireland. Of course unionists have considerable anxieties about the Way Forward proposals which have increased rather than abated in the last fortnight. They rightly recognise some rowing back from the "seismic shift" on decommissioning hailed by Tony Blair at Castle Buildings (Sinn Féin allege Tony Blair has exaggerated their promise to deliver). Unionists were alarmed by leaks of republican boasting that they had confused their opponents during the most recent negotiations.
Nor can Trimble comfort himself and his party with having won any concessions on the three sticking points he outlined immediately after the British and Irish governments' announcement. He won't get a timetable, he is very unlikely to get a statement from the IRA on decommissioning and the legislative failsafe does not ensure the executive surviving if Sinn Féin is forced out. (Why did Trimble pick targets which couldn't be delivered? For example, the government could never write into the legislation a timetable on a matter covered by an independent commission, or indeed an assurance that the executive could survive without Sinn Féin - a matter which could only be determined by the decision of independent political parties.)
But none of that should obscure far more important issues. And the biggest is not the question of whether Trimble has got all he wanted but if he has got the best deal he could hope to get. And the answer to that has to be yes. The Good Friday agreement was a better deal than the unionists could ever have dreamt of, and it is certainly a lot better than anything they are likely to secure in the future as the demographics swing against them. The statements of Sinn Féin at Castle Buildings went further than ever before to deliver the great prize of a commitment on decommissioning: the rhetoric may have been murky, but that is unavoidable in peace negotiations where manoeuvrability is key.
The other aspect to Trimble's calculation must be that if he doesn't agree to the deal and take up his seat in the executive this week, what will he have achieved for unionism? The assembly, unionism's treasured goal, will yet again be postponed while the bits they find unpalatable - policing and human rights, cross-border links, and prisoner releases -roll on. That has to be a very unedifying prospect for any unionist. Nor is there much point using future problems to justify balking now. Of course, problems lie ahead. What exactly constitutes decommissioning is likely to be the next hurdle but, as everyone including President Clinton has urged, these should be dealt with as they come up rather than be used to delay the whole process. Northern Irish politics has too long been crippled by the preoccupation with the future as well as the past. Now, Trimble is using one bit of that past - the ousting of Brian Faulkner in 1974 - to reduce the pressure on him: he refers to leadership challenges and his indispensability to the peace process. It's time for him to call his followers' bluff and jump.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999
Analysis: We must try to break the cycle of distrust
By Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP
Sinn Féin are totally committed to the implementation of the Good Friday agreement in all its aspect. We believe that the wholehearted implementation of the agreement has the capacity to transform the existing situation through constructive and dynamic political development.
It is a matter of the deepest regret and frustration to Sinn Féin, and indeed to all who voted for the agreement on 22 May last year, that the process of implementation has been repeatedly stalled.
In this context, much attention has been paid to the arms issue. Let me make it clear that our objective is to achieve total disarmament and the complete removal of all weapons from politics in Ireland.
In my opinion decommissioning will come about when, collectively, the two governments and all the parties have created the conditions for it to be undertaken. The issue of arms must be finally and satisfactorily settled. It cannot be used any longer to disenfranchise citizens or to deny them their rights and entitlements.
This issue is addressed directly in the Good Friday agreement. All parties to the agreement have an obligation under the terms of the agreement to help to bring decommissioning about. Sinn Féin are committed to discharging our responsibilities in this regard. As an earnest of that commitment, we appointed Martin McGuinness as our representative to meet with the de Chastelain commission and he has done so constructively.
Our party has put forward a series of initiatives on this issue. The latest of these, the last of these was rejected twice last week by the UUP.
The arms issue is, of course, also a symptom of the wider conflict.
We acknowledge that there are real concerns and fears surrounding the issue of arms and, in the interest of stability, these must be addressed in resolving the issue.
There are valid and strongly held reasons why many on all sides view the decommissioning issue with deep suspicion and why for them this issue is surrounded by such profound difficulty. But the rejection by the UUP of the Sinn Féin initiative and the refusal by Unionism to abide by the Good Friday agreement on this matter is yet more evidence that for some in the unionist leadership the real problem is their refusal to share power with Catholics. To quote one, they ‚don‘t want to see a Fenian about the place‘. They are using the arms issue to ensure this.
On the other hand, the immediate and ongoing concern to Catholics and nationalists is the campaign of violence by loyalists groups, which has seen more than 160 bomb attacks and has resulted in 10 deaths by loyalists since the agreement was signed. In addition, scores of Catholics and nationalist families have been intimidated and burnt out of their homes.
The proliferation of licensed weapons ' some 150,000 ' in unionist hands is also an ongoing cause of concern to nationalists.
Self-evidently, we have all lost over a year, a critical period during which substantive progress could or should have been made on this issue and across a range of key issues.
WORKING WITH UNIONISTS
The challenge for all political parties is to break the cycle of mistrust and replace it with genuine mutual trust, so that everybody can go forward in confidence.
No section of our people has a monopoly on suffering. Republicans and nationalists have been victims of British state and loyalist violence. We recognise absolutely that the unionist section of our people have also suffered profoundly in this conflict. That suffering is a matter of deep regret. But it also makes the difficult process of removing conflict all the more necessary. Sinn Féin wish to work with, not against, the unionists and we recognise this as yet another imperative.
For republicans, co-operation and accommodation is the objective of this process. Equality and partnership is the essence of the Good Friday agreement.
It is Sinn Féin‘s view that it is only through the full implementation of all elements of the agreement, and all the parties and two governments discharging our collective responsibility in regard to its terms, that the issue of arms under the aegis of the de Chastelain commission as set out in the agreement can be finally and satisfactorily settled.
This is the best guarantee that guns will never again have a role in the politics of this land.
EXCLUSION NOT AN OPTION
Mr Trimble is now insisting on an exclusion clause in the legislation promised by the British government to underpin the failsafe clause of last week‘s joint statement by the Irish and British governments. He wants to see the exclusion of Sinn Féin. But under the terms of the Good Friday agreement this is not possible. There is no question of the British government introducing legislation to expel Sinn Féin. Mr Blair knows this would be a breech of the Good Friday agreement.
He also knows that there can be no renegotiating of the agreement or of the propositions put forward by the two governments on Friday last. The Good Friday agreement review section is crystal clear. There is no requirement for legislation at all beyond that already in place and any British legislation has to be based on this review section. Mr Trimble knows this also. He also knows that Sinn Féin is serious when we say that we want this process to succeed. He can no longer delay the attainment of full rights and entitlements for that section of our people who have been denied these rights and entitlements for so long. Not if he is really committed to the Good Friday agreement.
So Sinn Féin look forward to full participation in the new institutions, based on our mandate. In addition to the new all-Ireland institutions, our ministers will play a constructive part in the northern executive. The two Sinn Féin ministers will make and honour the pledge of office including the commitment to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means.
Other elements of the agreement are outstanding. Human rights, justice and equality are central requirements. Policing is a key issue. The impact of demilitarisation on the day-to-day lives of people would be widespread. The promised British government strategy to give effect to this, as required by the agreement, is yet to be produced.
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
The two governments, also, and in particular the British government, have a major responsibility in securing a satisfactory outcome to the issue of arms. Historically, the British government has been a hugely negative factor in the development of the conditions of conflict in Ireland. The conflict arises from the British government involvement in Irish affairs. It was the British government which brought the gun into Irish politics. They must now play a central role in the creation of a future on this island in which the gun has no place. This is the challenge which all of us in positions of political leadership face. I firmly believe that it is a challenge we can meet.
For Sinn Féin‘s part, I reiterate our total commitment to doing everything in our power to maintain the peace process and to removing the gun forever from the politics of our country and, through our participation in all of the new institutions, to creating a society in which there is total respect for Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter.
The initiative in the process to establish the new institutions rests with the British government.
Mr Blair has said the D‘Hondt procedure to nominate ministers will be run on July 15. The transfer of power will take effect on July 18. This is not the first time that the British government has set a deadline. But this time the deadline must be kept. The UUP cannot forever delay and prevaricate. The institutions must be established.
The choice for the British government and the UUP is simple. The unionist veto continues or the Good Friday agreement is implemented.
Friday/Saturday, 2/3 July, 1999
'The Way Forward' - the full text
This is the full text of a joint statement by the British and Irish governments at Stormont:
After five days of discussion, the British and Irish Governments have put to all the parties a way forward to establish an inclusive Executive, and to decommission arms.
These discussions have been difficult. But as they conclude, the peace process is very much alive, and on track.
The Good Friday Agreement presents the best chance of peace and prosperity in decades.
It is clear from our discussions that nobody wants to throw that opportunity away.
We believe that unionist and nationalist opinion will see that our approach meets their concerns, and will support it accordingly.
The way forward is as follows:
1. All parties reaffirm the three principles agreed on 25 June
3. The Devolution Order to be laid before the British Parliament on 16 July to take effect on 18 July. Within the period specified by the de Chastelain Commission, the Commission will confirm the start to the process of decommissioning, that start to be defined as in their report of 2 July.
4. As described in their report today, the Commission will have urgent discussions with the groups' points of contact. The Commission will specify that actual decommissioning is to start within a specified time. They will report progress in September and December 1999 and in May 2000.
5. A "failsafe" clause: the Governments undertake that, in accordance with the review provisions of the Agreement, if commitments under the Agreement are not met, either in relation to decommissioning or to devolution, they will automatically, and with immediate effect, suspend the operation of the institutions set up by the Agreement.
In relation to decommissioning, this action will be taken on receipt of a report at any time that the commitments now being entered into or steps which are subsequently laid down by the Commission, are not fulfilled, in accordance with the Good Friday agreement. The British Government will legislate to this effect.
All parties have fought very hard to ensure their basic concerns have been met. This means that we are now closer than ever to a fulfilling the promise of the Good Friday Agreement:
All sides have legislative safeguards to ensure that commitments entered into are met. This is an historic opportunity. Now is the time to seize it.
Friday/Saturday, 2/3 July, 1999
Analysis: Mindsets decommissioned by Sinn Féin initiative
By Bill Delaney
Decommissioning, decommissioning, decommissioning—the word has lost all meaning. But it never had much to begin with.
Following the two governments' joint declaration yesterday, the possibility of life beyond the impasse has been opened to us all. It seems the patience of the British Prime Minister has finally been exhausted—but why did it take so long?!
Now there is no turning back—the Rubicon has been crossed, as Bertie Ahern said—regardless of the unionist or republican response to yesterday's declaration at Stormont. For it has now been understood that the decommissioning impasse was, at the very best, a metaphor for something more pathological.
What the unionists sought was not an IRA weapons handover, we now know, but a forced IRA weapons handover. A symbol of the defeat of Republicanism—with a little public humiliation added in for good measure. It was always a unionist pipe-dream.
But Tony Blair spent a year barking up the decommissioning tree. Perhaps the coincidence of Drumcree, another glorious example of the madness into which unionism descends when its sense of superiority is frustrated, was enough to convince him. But Sinn Féin's initiative put it beyond doubt.Simply, the two governments and the unionists were presented with a deal they couldn't refuse. Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair certainly didn't. The assured delivery of IRA arms in return for the delivery of the overdue Good Friday agreement was seized on by the two governments as a truly "seismic" development.
The UUP, acting more like a jealous sibling than a political party, could simply not bring itself to accept something that had been proposed by Sinn Féin. Incredibly, IRA decommissioning is now almost certain be refused by a large section of the Ulster Unionist Party, simply because it wasn't extracted by force.
For days, the international media as well as the two Prime Ministers scratched their heads as the UUP negotiators desperately searched the Sinn Féin proposals for flaws, the fine print, the hidden catch.Understandably, some thought it was simple distrust of the old enemy. But the claim that the only ‚bankable' assurance was a written declaration from P. O'Neill—the name which appears on the end of all IRA statements—was an irony too far.
The worst of it for Tony Blair was surely when he was holding hands with the fractious unionists in Belfast at the time of—arguably—the greatest triumph of his Prime Ministership. The opening of the Scottish.Parliament in Edinburgh, the first for 300 years, was an extraordinary and moving day for Scots the world over. It presented a glittering foil for the murky sectarianism of Drumcree and the bitter intransigence at Stormont.
Unionists must have watched with some envy the scenes of unbridled optimism and confidence in Edinburgh, the sense of unity across Scotland's sectarian and political divide. In much the same way, northern nationalists have looked in recetn years at the South's economic boom, its vanishing unemployment lines, the dolce vita of Dublin's Temple Bar.A transformation is taking place on the Celtic fringe...but not in our wee province. Guess what unionism is planning for the new millenium? According to a leaked British document, the Orange Order is planning to stay on Drumcree Hill until 2001 - a Hate Odyssey - unless they are allowed to swagger their celebrations of 17th Century victories in front of the besieged residents of the Garvaghy Road.
History may yet record that Good Friday was a blip, the day unionism said Yes because it thought Sinn Féin wouldn't. But large sections of unionism, not necessarily the politicians, have shown themselves able to treat nationalists as equals.
No-one can know for sure what will happen on July 15th, the day devolution is supposed to begin. But, with the help of the Alliance and the Women's Coaltion, there should be enough unionist members of the Assembly to make the process work. And there may well be a leader of „positive unionism“ there—David Trimble could yet earn his Nobel Prize, but it may be another. And so Tony Blair must press on—if only because the North of Ireland cannot be returned to its time warp once the process of change begins.
Talks adjourn after unionists reject deal
Talks were adjourned at Stormont Castle in Belfast in deep gloom at around 4am after Ulster Unionist negotiators quietly departed for home. Their sudden departure brought a marathon 15-hour negotiating session to an unhappy end.
Talks are tentatively scheduled to resume around noon Thursday.
Earlier, yesterday's bright hopes were all but shattered as it appeared the Ulster Unionist negotiating team had lost interest in reaching any compromise in the current talks process.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said Mr Trimble had broken another deadline and belonged to the "mañana wing" of the peace process. It was another deadline "once again broken".
BBC journalists, claiming an exclusive, earlier predicted that the talks would be wound up on the basis that most of the Ulster Unionist Assembly Party were opposed to accepting any kind of deal. They cited as motivation this month's climax of the Protestant marching season.
A resumption of talks in September was being proposed by unionists as an alternative 'soft landing' for the Good Friday Agreement to avoid its complete collapse, according to the reports.
A down-beat Sinn Fein President, emerging from the talks with his negotiating team, was deeply annoyed by the fact that his team were only made aware of the departure of the Ulster Unionist negotiators by journalists outside the building after they had already left.
In remarks to reporters, Mr Adams said the Ulster Unionist Party had rejected Sinn Fein's proposals, described as "significant" and "potentially historic" by Irish and British government sources. The UUP had spent just two minutes considering the deal, Mr Adams revealed.
The talks were adjourned when Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble sent his team home without consultation with any of the other parties, he added. This obviously made things "more difficult" and his party and everyone else was "very disappointed".
Mr Adams revealed he had spoken to US President Bill Clinton and had briefed him on the situation.
But he said negotiations had been hampered by his party's difficulties in holding bilateral talks with the Ulster Unionists. He revealed they had met their full negotiating team only twice.
"We requested to meet their entire assembly team - they refused to meet us. We requested to meet any members of the Ulster Unionist Party who were in the building, officer board people, any other persons others who were there."
But he said he had managed to give the unionists "graphic detail" of the Sinn Fein proposals. "We left those engagements thinking they were good engagements," he said.
He and Sinn Fein's Cheif Negotiator Martin McGuinness thought they had impressed the UUP with the "potential" of what they were proposing.
"But alas, one of the senior [unionist] people told me that when later they came to discuss the proposals, they had spent two minutes on it," said Mr Adams. "I thought it was worth more than two minutes"
He admitted he was frustrated, but would not accept defeat.
"We have been at this non-stop. You know we had a deal on the 14th of May in Downing Street and it didn't work, but we didn't let that get us down."
Unionist negotiators left the negotiating venue without comment.
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
Earlier, President Clinton beseeched talks participants to "give peace a chance," as the talks progressed into the night.
Speaking to reporters after a speech in Chicago, the president said he stood ready to become personally involved in the deadlocked talks in Belfast if he is needed.
"I will do whatever I can to be helpful," he said. "We're moving forward and I'm hoping for the best."
Clinton asked the parties not to let the pact fall apart.
"It's still a good deal and they need to find a way to go forward. If anybody fails to fulfill any condition ... at any time in the future by the appropriate deadlines, it can always be taken down," Clinton said.
"But it shouldn't be taken down in the absence of a failure to fulfill the basic conditions. We should go forward and give peace a chance," he said.
Back to the Brink
On the eve of Wednesday's deadline for the implementation of last year's Good Friday Agreement, there was a new sense of hopefulness at Stormont Castle in Belfast. On a damp, grey day in the familiar trenches of Castle Buildings, talks participants spoke of a belief that the Agreement would not be allowed to collapse. But the mood of optimism varied greatly from party to party and from negotiator to negotiator, and years of peace efforts were still hanging precariously in the balance with just 24 hours of talks to go.
With all of the parties except the unionists convinced that Tony Blair's deadline for devolution of powers to a new administration is sincere, the threat posed by persistent unionist demands for an IRA weapons handover seemed more real than ever. But the surprise delay of the publication of a report on decommissioning by General John de Chastelain was being interpreted as a positive sign.
According to the British Prime Minister's official spokesman, the chairman of the international body on decommissioning decided to hold back the release of his interim report for 24 hours because „real progress“ was being made in the multi-party negotiations.
The two governments were understood to have discussed the contents of the report in a 75 minute meeting with Sinn Fein. Officials held a further meeting with the Ulster Unionists before an all-party meeting on Wednesday, when a final effort to seal a deal will be attempted.
Negotiations reportedly revolved around the timing of the establishment of the executive and the timetable for decommissioning. The executive would be set up tomorrow following an „unequivocal acceptance“ by the parties of the obligation to secure decommissioning by May 2000. A timetable for decommissioning would call for a start by the end of the year, with the process to be completed by May 2000 -- or else the Good Friday Agreement would be frozen and reviewed as provided for by the agreement itself. De Chastelain's progress report is expected to form part of the final deal proposals on decommissioning.
Devolution—the formal transfer of powers to the new Executive—is also due to take place tomorrow, but according to one source may now be postponed until September. This would pose problems for nationalists who accepted as genuine, after a year of prevarication and broken promises, the ‚absolute' July 1st deadline for devolutin as declared by Tony Blair.
But UUP negotiator Jeffrey Donaldson would not accept that unionists could compromise in any way. He held out the possibility that he would walk out of talks again—as he did on Good Friday—if the deal proves unsatisfactory to him, something considered by observers to be almost certain. And a predictably gloomy Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader John Taylor suggested the talks had only a 2% chance of succeeding, repeating his party's „no guns, no government“ stance.
Taylor said: „At the moment the IRA has said there will be no decommissioning, I have not heard any change in their position. I would have to say there is only a 2% chance of success.“
The British and Irish governments hinted, but not for the first time, that a breakthrough had been achieved. Sinn Fein spokespersons warned against exaggeration, but confirmed there had been some progress.
Mr Adams said: „I think we can get there. It's a matter of bringing the right political will.
„People out there don't want excuses as to why this cannot work. They want it to work. We cannot contemplate failure and we do not contemplate failure.“
He welcomed the fact that the two Prime Ministers had returned to the Good Friday Agreement. He said as far as he was concerned, talks might have been much more advanced if this return had been sooner.
Mr Adams said he wanted to work with Unionists „not against them“—but UUP leader David Trimble seemed more interested in working with the nationalist SDLP. Trimble and the SDLP's Deputy Leader Seamus Mallon beamed as they supped tea in the glare of the media spotlight, but revealed little of the negotiations that were taking place.
Arriving at the talks venue, the British Prime Minister said the north of Ireland was facing a moment of choice - between moving forward or going back to its „dark past“.
„People will neither understand nor forgive if we don't make this thing work,“ said Tony Blair.
Heralding the final push for a deal at Stormont, he said: „It is a moment of truth for Northern Ireland and let us hope that we choose the future, not the past.
„I don't think anyone can underestimate the formidable difficulties that we face. But we have been here before. We have done it before and we can do it again.“
A sense of 'deja vu' recalling the days leading up to the Good Friday Agreement was shared by both negotiators and reporters, enhancing the gut feeling that the talks could succeed.
Arriving for the crunch discussions, Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness urged the Ulster Unionists to get down to the task of producing what the people were craving.
He said all the parties needed to „buckle down to the hard work of breaking the impasse. Unionists should stop making excuses“. He said the people wanted a resolution not excuses.
„They are looking for the politicians to provide a result over the next 36 hours.“
Despite the unionists focus on the decision of two men arrested while transporting bomb parts in Donegal to be housed in the IRA wing at Portlaoise Prison, Mr McGuinness insisted the IRA cessation was „rock solid“.
He said there should be more concern about daily bomb attacks against Catholic families in the Six Counties and said it showed the urgency of what the political parties were involved in.
Mr McGuinness pointed out that today's discussions took place against the back drop of yet another pipe bomb attack on a nationalist family.
A 45-year-old woman and her six-year-old child escaped injury when a pipe bomb exploded after being pushed through the letter box of their home in the Finaghy area of Belfast. „It was an attempt to kill people,“ the Mid-Ulster MP said.
A frustrated McGuinness told the unionists: „This [the Good Friday Agreement] is the best deal that Unionists are going to get. They need to recognise that out there on the streets among the community, nationalists and loyalists, republicans and unionists, people are fed up to the back teeth with excuses.
„People want their political leaders not to be making excuses, people want results. It is our duty as representatives to give them the results they want.“