Fresh crisis hits Ulster peace

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, DEC. 28. Within weeks of the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton's much publicised peace mission to Northern Ireland, a fresh threat to the Good Friday Agreement is looming over the issue of arms decommissioning by the Irish Republic Army, the paramilitary wing of the Sinn Fein.

The decommissioning body, headed by the Canadian General John de Chastelain, has reported negative progress and called on the IRA to start ``substantive engagement'' with it as early as possible. The Sinn Fein and the IRA have virtually boycotted the decommissioning body in recent months and instead, they have been talking to a team of independent weapons inspectors. The Chastelain report has pointed out that the process of decommissioning must start now if the June deadline set by the Good Friday Agreement is to be met.

The Sinn Fein, however, maintains that there can be no progress on decommissioning unless the British Government meets its demands on new policing arrangement and ``demilitarisation'' of Northern Ireland. It wants the new police body which would replace the Royal Ulster Constabulary to be more ``democratic'' and ``transparent'' than is envisaged in the legislation passed by British Parliament recently.

On demilitarisation, it specifically wants watch towers and other visible symbols of security to be dismantled. The Republicans led by the Sinn Fein are not happy with the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr. Peter Mandelson's handling of the peace process, alleging that he is being influenced by the Unionists.

If the Sinn Fein sticks to its rigid position, then there is every chance of the Unionists walking out of the power- sharing executive set up after the Good Friday Agreement as a major steps towards reconciliation. The Unionist chief and the First Minister in the Provincial Assembly, Mr. David Trimble, has been under pressure from the party hardliners to leave the executive in the absence of visible progress on decommissioning.

There are fears that at the Unionists' council meeting next month his leadership might be challenged on the issue if he is not able to report some progress by then. Mr. Trimble is the only credible voice of moderation in the Unionist camp and his ouster would be a blow to the peace process.

The Sinn Fein is conscious of this but its leader, Mr. Gerry Adams, does not want to give the impression of capitulating to pressures from Unionist hardliners, particularly when there are hardliners within his own camp who could create difficulties for him. In the next few weeks, the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, and his Irish counterpart, Mr. Bertie Ahern, would need to do some footwork to get the two sides to pull back from the brink.

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Section  : International
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