Tuesday, Jul 02, 2002
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By Hasan Suroor
The talks will take place against the backdrop of fresh sectarian violence in Belfast at the weekend ahead of the controversial annual marching season which is invariably marred by clashes as Protestants insist on parading through Catholic areas to celebrate their victory in an ancient battle. The confrontation on Saturday, in which two sides hurled missiles at each other, is seen as a warning of things to come as the marching seasons gets under way. The discussions, however, are expected to focus on the more urgent political issues which are threatening the five-year-old peace process. These include a demand by Unionists for a firm commitment from republicans to put an end to IRA's allegedly continuing involvement in terrorist activities. The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) chief, David Trimble, who also heads Northern Ireland's ruling coalition, is under pressure from his party hardliners to expel Sinn Fein from the Government if it does not rein in the IRA. Unionists have indicated that they would take a tough stand on this issue in their discussions with Mr. Blair and Mr. Ahern. What are being described as `emergency' talks come exactly a year after the two Prime Ministers held a similar crisis summit to save the peace process. A significant outcome of that summit was the IRA's `historic' decision to start decommissioning its weapons as part of the Good Friday Agreement . But just when the peace process appeared to be back on track, a controversy erupted over IRA's `secret' attempts to re-arm itself , and its links with `terrorist' organisations in Colombia and some other countries. Discovery of two IRA "hit lists'' containing names of leading British politicians has added to Sinn Fein's political difficulties. Unionists are urging the British government to declare IRA to be in breach of the ceasefire to which it agreed under the Good Friday Agreement and because of which many of its hardcore activists were released from prison. They have accused the IRA of `pretending' to decommission while secretly buying fresh weapons. A report in The Sunday Telegraph alleged that the Basque terror group ETA had recently supplied weapons to IRA. Republicans have dismissed these allegations as attempts to `smear' them to deflect attention from investigations into the role of security forces in killing suspected IRA supporters at the height of the sectarian conflict in the province. The Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, has welcomed the Blair-Ahern intervention and assured that he would play a "leadership role'' in trying to end republican violence. But he has said that many of the assurances given to the republicans in the Good Friday Agreement have not been honoured by the British Government. He would press for these to be implemented when he meets the two Prime Ministers. "As we face into a week of more talks, including meetings with the Taoiseach (the Irish Prime Minister) and the British Prime Minister, let me give notice of the fundamental responsibility that Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern have to implement all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement,'' he said.
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