Irish Republican News and Information, 26. January 2003,
http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
TRIMBLE CLAIMS VICTORY OVER IRA, MAY BOYCOTT TALKS
Following indications that the Ulster Unionist leader David
Trimble will boycott intensive multi-party talks in Belfast this
week aimed at rescuing the Good Friday Agreement, the Sinn Fein
leader Gerry Adams today called for "a bit of political bonding"
with the Ulster Unionists.
He asked of the unionists: "Are they going to come into talks with
us to try and sort it out? Are they going to boycott talks? Are
they going to come in sometimes?
"Let all of us collectively come together, let there be a bit of
political bonding."
Yesterday the Ulster Unionist leader suggested the possible
boycott as a retaliation for the involvement of the Irish
government in the talks on the peace process.
"I am probably not going to the talks on Thursday," he admitted.
"I am getting increasingly fed up with this behaviour. There is
no value in them: the only important talks are in Downing Street."
While Trimble claimed the round-table talks were irrelevant,
fellow unionist MPs Jeffrey Donaldson and David Burnside were
warning that the talks were a "high-wire act" and "very high
risk".
Burnside said he was opposed to any discussions that did not
involve placing sanctions on Sinn Fein and did not believe it
would be possible to enter government with the party for the
foreseeable future.
Trimble is angry about the involvement of Brian Cowen, the Dublin
minister for foreign affairs in talks which he considers only
involve "internal" matters for the Six Counties.
It also emerged that Mr Trimble defiantly told an Ulster Unionist
branch in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, on Friday night that
republicans would have to wait very long to see their dream of an
end to British rule fulfilled.
"The republican juggernaut has been halted - unionists are not
going to be rolled into a united Ireland," the Upper Bann MP
declared. He declared that SInn Fein had been "hollowed out".
"After their so-called `long war', Irish republicans face a very
long wait indeed for an end to British rule.'
Mr Trimble also told the unionist meeting they should have every
reason to believe they were "on the front foot" in the peace
process and could look to the future confidently.
In an interview on Irish radio today, Mr Adams said his party
would continue to engage with unionism despite any potential
boycott.
"We remain resolute in sorting this out, and think it will
eventually be sorted out.
"We are poised, our negotiating team is in place."
BRITISH PLAN AWAITED
Mr Adams said that regardless of the "other priorities" of the
British Government, it "really does need to pull its socks up.
"We need to see a plan for completion of this phase of the
process."
Mr Adams pointed out that the IRA had moved "far beyond the Good
Friday Agreement" in trying to enhance the peace process.
And he added: "Let no one, begrudgers, nay-sayers,
anti-republican elements, those who are against change, try to
persuade anyone that there has not been huge progress made in
terms of the IRA, or that the IRA has not taken dangerous and
difficult steps to enhance this process.
"Others, particularly in 10 Downing Street and within the
unionist leadership, need to reflect that in what they do."
He told a meeting of the party leadership on Saturday that
republicans must be prepared to continue their essential
contribution to the Peace Process.
In a statement, he said that Sinn Fein's approach to the upcoming
negotiations would be based on certain principles, including the
fact that the Good Friday Agreement is "the only show in town".
Adams said the IRA was not a threat to the peace process -- the
British government and the unionists knew this, he said -- and
the IRA has given "a fair wind" to the Agreement.
Meanwhile, unionists had not been selling the Agreement: "Instead
they have been seeking to dilute and renegotiate", while the
British and Irish governments had "pandered to them" and had
encouraged them in this approach.
He claimed that anti-Agreement unionist violence has been
"tolerated and tacitly encouraged" by British securocrats, while
allegations about IRA activities had created political
difficulties. "But the IRA is not the cause of the crisis", he
added.
He also stated that the UUP had decided to collapse the political
institutions by January 18th in any event; and the raid on Sinn
Fein's Stormont Offices, the arrests of republicans and other
action by the British government agencies "clouded this
fundamental reality and contrived a basis for the British
government to suspend the political institutions".
Demands for the surrender of the IRA and or the disbandment of
the IRA were not, in Sinn Fein's view, realistic. But he said
Sinn Fein was committed to bringing a permanent end to political
conflict on this island.
"We have a strategy for that and a strategy to see an end to all
armed groups. Others, especially the British government and the
unionists, also have significant roles in that strategy. So too
the Irish government.
DEMOCRATIC IMPERATIVE
"The democratic imperative must be given precedence both as a
matter of principle and as a counter to a contrived strategy of
instability," he added.
This required that the elections scheduled for 1 May 2003 must go
ahead, and the British government "end its veto" over the
institutions.
"Their legislation to suspend the institutions
which was enacted on unionist demands must be repealed," he added.
Also, the "stunted" process to create an acceptable policing
service "must be got back on track and rapidly concluded". He
added that the North's justice system - "shaped by unionist
domination and Britain's military imperatives in Ireland" - must be
transformed, equality must be realised and delivered and the
demilitarisation of society brought forward rapidly.
"These are all requirements of the Good Friday Agreement to which
the British government and the Ulster Unionist Party are
signatories. There is nothing new about them save the British
Prime Minister's acceptance that his government has not been
fulfilling its obligations across the board on these issues.
"When I say that the IRA is not the cause of the crisis, this is
not to suggest that allegations of IRA activities do not cause
political difficulties in the unionist constituency. They do of
course. And regardless of whether they are real or unfounded
Irish republicans know that, because ongoing activities by
British intelligence, the British Army, the police force and
unionist paramilitaries cause political difficulties in our
community. Particularly against a backdrop of unionist contrived
perpetual political crisis which is at the centre of attempts to
wreck or renegotiate the Agreement.
"But these are problems to be addressed and resolved, not reasons
for wrecking the Agreement.
"The British Prime Minister has put his finger on the route to
doing this. His frank admission that his government has not been
implementing the Agreement is a tacit acceptance of the analysis
Sinn Fein has been making all along. The Agreement, the
political contract and primary device for creating the conditions
in which all armed groups can be removed from the political
arena, has not and is not being implemented.
"Instead the failed politics of dealing with the symptoms of
conflict rather than its causes looms large over the situation.
It is a well worn route into cul-de-sac politics and usually
involves making pre-conditions out of objectives of the peace
process."
Mr Adams concluded by telling the Sinn Fein Executive:
"Recognising all of the difficulties, and conscious of real
concerns, as opposed to excuses for contrived scenarios and
situations, Sinn Fein will explore any possibilities Mr Blair's
current negotiation open up.
"While we welcome the British Prime Minister's acknowledgement
that the British government is not and has not been implementing
the Agreement, we are also mindful of their claims to the
contrary over the past four and a half years and the politically
debilitating effect of this. Nonetheless, we will explore with
Mr Blair and the Irish government, their commitment to rectify
this.
"The effect of this bad faith by the British government should
not be underestimated. Their credibility in the republican
constituency is low."