Trimble halts peace process
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has responded angrily to the announcement today that the IRA has completed a third act of weapons decommissioning.
Mr Trimble announced that “we are putting the sequence on hold” after declaring that the statement on decommissioning by the IRA did not go far enough.
However, the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, remains convinced that the peace process will continue. He told a press conference shortly after Mr Trimble’s comments: ‘We can find a way through this.’
‘We are in a situation where virtually everything is agreed,’ he said. He explained that the UUP want to have a ‘far greater degree of particularity about what was actually put beyond use’.
His comments were echoed by Irish premier, Bertie Ahern, who said that all the parties involved will have to try and resolve the problem.
Earlier, Mr Trimble told reporters that he would be calling a special meeting of UUP members to discuss the IRA statement, which he insisted did not provide acceptable evidence that decommissioning had taken place.
“We had made it very clear to republicans and to the governments and to General de Chastelain what we needed was a clear, transparent report of major acts of decommissioning of a nature which would have a significant impact on public opinion and demonstrate that we were in a different context,” he said.
“Unfortunately we have not had that.”
Tuesday opened on a hopeful note, with the news that elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly will take place on November 26th, this was followed by a speech by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams advocating peaceful negotiation and the statements on decommissioning for the IRA.
However, Mr Trimble’s announcement throws the fragile peace process back into disarray.
The devolved government was dissolved last year amidst allegations of IRA intelligence gathering inside Stormont. Unionist leaders refused to share power with Sinn Fein politicians in light of the revelations.
Weeks of intensive negotiations led to today’s announcements and British and Irish premiers Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern are now in Belfast for discussions.
