Northern Ireland crisis talks fail to break impasse

February 16, 2000
Web posted at: 3:46 p.m. EST (2046 GMT)

In this story: Ahern, Blair vow to continue work IRA pulls out of talks Uncompromising stances Clinton: a taste of self-government RELATED STORIES, SITES

LONDON (CNN) -- Crisis talks aimed at patching the tattered Northern Ireland peace process ended Wednesday with the parties apparently no closer to a solution than they had been before British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern called them together.

"We did all that we could do to make the agreement work," said David Trimble, leader of the predominantly Protestant Ulster Unionist Party. "The onus is fairly and squarely on the republican movement to put forward proposals about how this is going to work."

VIDEO CNN's Nic Robertson looks at the latest setback in the Northern Ireland peace process. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     AUDIO CNN's Nic Robertson reports on the reactions to the IRA's announcement Tuesday 381K/35 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    TIME Analysis: IRA walkout is a serious blow to Ireland peace Newsfile: The Irish Troubles

Asked what those proposals might entail, Trimble -- who was Northern Ireland's first minister -- said, "What they should have done in December, what they should have done in January: Decommission."

The parties had no immediate plans for another meeting.

Moments before Trimble stepped outside London's No. 10 Downing Street, where the meetings took place, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams faced the cameras with equal disdain.

"It wasn't us who threatened to walk out of the procedures," Adams said. "The way to work this out ... is to make it clear that none of us have the veto and that the democratic process is going to be upheld and endorsed by the British government."

British Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson angered Irish Republican Army ally Sinn Fein last week when he suspended the province's all-party government after a report indicated the mostly Catholic IRA had made no move toward decommissioning, or disarmament.

The Ulster Unionists had demanded decommissioning as a condition for allowing republican Sinn Fein party members to take their seats in the assembly.

Ahern and Blair put their best face on the Wednesday meetings, telling reporters that all the parties had reconfirmed their commitment to making the 1998 Good Friday accord work.

"It remains the best chance for peace in Northern Ireland in a generation," Blair said, adding that he was uninterested in participating in what he called "the blame game."

"I'm interested in picking up and moving on," he said. "We've come such a long way. I simply cannot believe we are going to let this chance slip away."

Ahern said he was "convinced there's no reasonable alternative" to the Good Friday accord.

"Nobody said today other than it can operate and it can operate effectively," the Irish prime minister said.

The peace process suffered a further blow Tuesday when the IRA abruptly withdrew from talks on decommissioning. The guerrilla group also withdrew a proposal, submitted last week, in which the group discussed the circumstances in which it would put its weapons "beyond use."

Mandelson said Monday that the IRA's proposal was a "good sign," but added that he needed more clarification before he would consider reinstating the Northern Ireland government -- a move the republicans say is the only way the IRA will re-enter discussions.

The Good Friday accord, signed by all parties, required disarmament by May 2000, but the Unionists insisted that the IRA offer more evidence that it intended to comply.

Blair and Ahern held separate meetings Wednesday with the unionists and republicans trying to find some common ground to boost the process.

But Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists appeared immovable. The republicans said the Unionists had bullied the British into making a unilateral decision that was emphatically wrong.

"At the moment the Good Friday agreement is lying in a waste paper basket," Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said. "The British government needs to get it out, put it back together again and be serious."

Trimble demanded more cooperation from his adversaries.

"We don't have interest in cobbling together a formula which just enables you to stagger on for a week or two," he said. "We want this settled once and for all so that when we reform the institutions they are there to operate permanently."

The Good Friday accord was negotiated with the aid of U.S. officials, particularly former Sen. George Mitchell. U.S. President Bill Clinton has pointed to the peace effort in Northern Ireland as one of the major achievements of his administration.

Asked about the talks at a Wednesday news conference, Clinton expressed hope that a settlement could still be found -- but said he didn't want to be a "Monday morning quarterback."

"While this is a very unfortunate development, a year ago at this time the Irish had no tase of what self-government was like," he said. "Now they've had it, and they like it."

Clinton noted that the IRA has given "no indication whatsoever that they will revert to violence." That suggests that "No matter what the rhetoric says, that all the parties really believe that they ought to find a way to work this out," he said.

British official says apparent IRA shift hopeful but vague
February 14, 2000
Trimble demands IRA disarmament pledge
February 12, 2000
Trimble's party to weigh his political fate after suspension of Belfast home rule
February 11, 2000
Diplomats wage 11th-hour campaign to save N. Ireland government
February 10, 2000
Britain, Ireland scramble for N. Ireland solution
February 9, 2000
In-depth -- Northern Ireland: Path to Peace
1998

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