Ahern to meet Blair

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, JUNE 15. The British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, and his Irish counterpart, Mr. Bertie Ahern, are to hold what is being termed as a ``summit'' at Downing Street on Monday to rescue the Northern Ireland peace process which has come under pressure following a swing against moderates in last week's elections.

The two met for more than an hour on the margins of the E.U. summit at Gothenburg on Thursday and, according to reports, the discussion ``focussed almost entirely on the peace process''. A spokesman later said that while differences persisted, the two Prime Ministers remained ``committed'' to moving the process forward and agreed to meet at Downing Street for further talks. These would be followed by extensive all-party negotiations in Belfast before July 1 - the beleaguered Ulster Unionist Party chief, Mr. David Trimble's self-imposed deadline to quit as Northern Ireland's first minister if there is no progress on arms decommissioning by then.

Mr. Trimble, whose party lost heavily to the hawkish Democratic Unionist Party in the elections, is under pressure from party hardliners either to get the IRA to start laying down its arms or quit the ruling arrangement it shares with Sinn Fein, IRA's political wing. He faces a leadership challenge at his party's council meeting on June 23. He has already warned that he is not prepared to go through another round of ``bogus'' negotiations with Sinn Fein, and said that decommissioning must start immediately.

After meeting Mr. Blair early this week, he blamed the victory of hardliners in elections on the British Government's ``soft'' approach to Sinn Fein. He thought too many concessions had been made to Sinn Fein at the cost of his moderate UUP, creating an impression that only Republicans had gained from the Good Friday Agreement.

Even as political temperature in Belfast is rising amid fears of a virtual collapse of the Good Friday Agreement, officials shrugged off reports that the power-sharing executive was likely to be suspended to allow for breathing time.

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Section  : International
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