N. Ireland Assembly suspended

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, AUG 11. After failing to break the deadlock in Northern Ireland, the British Government has suspended the Provincial Assembly, giving six more weeks to Unionists and Republicans to come to an agreement on the thorny issue of decommissioning.

The new deadline for them to get the peace process moving again is September 23, but already doubts were being expressed if a breakthrough would be possible given the sharp Republican reaction to the decision.

Technically, the suspension is only for one day but it means that the institutions such as the power-sharing coalition created under the Good Friday Agreement can remain in place for another six weeks despite the political vacuum created by the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader, Mr. David Trimble's resignation as head of the coalition. He resigned a month ago to force the IRA to get rid of its weapons as envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement.

The Sinn Fein, the key Republican player in the peace process, denounced the suspension calling it a surrender to Unionists and warned that it would have a damaging effect on Republican opinion.

There was speculation that the IRA might review its offer of decommissioning which it announced early this week and break off communication with the independent international weapons inspectors charged with overseeing decommissioning.

Observers recalled that it had done this after the Assembly was suspended on a previous occasion under similar circumstances. There were fears that far from paving the way for a solution, the suspension might cause Republicans to harden their stand on decommissioning.

Republicans were furious over the Unionists' refusal to accept the IRA's assurance that it was on the verge of decommissioning and had in fact agreed on a method to destroy its weapons.

The suspension was seen as a capitulation to the Unionists' insistence that they would not return to the Government unless the IRA physically started decommissioning and gave a time-frame to complete the process.

Republicans described the suspension as a breach of the Good Friday Agreement, prompting concern, as The Times noted, that the ``IRA might pull out of talks with General John de Chastelain's disarmament commission and withdraw the plan to put its guns beyond use.''

The Sinn Fein president, Mr. Gerry Adams, accused the British Government of having done a ``deal'' with Unionists and said the Republican opinion would be ``frustrated and angered'' by the move.

Earlier in the week, the British Government was attacked by Unionists for not putting enough pressure on the IRA to disarm. They also believed that the British-Irish peace package, offering a number of concessions to Republicans on policing and their security concerns, had a pro-Republican ``tilt''.

The Republican outrage over suspending the Assembly was put on record by the Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr. Martin McGuinness, who said: ``No one should consider that the institutions can simply be suspended at the behest of David Trimble... without considering the effects of these actions, especially on nationalist and Republican opinion... David Trimble needs to recognise what people are saying on the streets.''

Mr. Trimble, who had favoured suspension, left for a holiday, apparently satisfied with the decision but the hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) attacked it saying the best course would have been to dissolve the Assembly and call for fresh elections. It accused the Government of avoiding elections which, it said, would have resulted in more gains for it.

In the recent general elections, DUP performed well at the cost of the moderate UUP just as the Sinn Fein outperformed the more moderate Republican group, the SDLP. The British Government feared that an election might see both Republican and Unionist hardliners further improve their position, thus polarising extreme politics.

The Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr. John Reid, who took the decision to suspend the Assembly on Friday after consulting the Irish Government, claimed it was the ``least worst'' option, saying fresh elections were not in the interest of Northern Ireland. ``I believe that it's (suspension) the way which minimises the destruction and possible damage to the peace process and maximises the opportunities to build on the progress already made'', he said.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, holidaying in Mexico, concurred hoping that the extra time would allow both sides to bridge their differences - a hope not very widely shared in political circles.

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