N. Irish talks begin amid violence

Soldiers have upped their patrols of north Belfast streets amid Protestant paramilitary feuding

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- A Protestant was shot and seriously wounded in spiraling paramilitary violence hours before Britain launched a diplomatic offensive to try and end an impasse in the Northern Ireland peace process.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair had talks with two independent observers who have inspected Irish Republican Army (IRA) weapons dumps twice in an attempt to speed up disarmament under the Good Friday Agreement.

South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa and Finland's Martti Ahtisaari said they were satisfied the IRA was committed to peace.

"We have formed the distinct impression that the IRA are serious about the peace process," they said.

"We have been even more convinced of their intentions after going back for a reinspection," Ramaphosa added.

They were to discuss their findings with leaders in Northern Ireland later on Thursday.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson was set to meet Irish Republic Foreign Minister Brian Cowen.

Mandelson said: "We have a range of difficulties, and all of them we're going to address when I meet the Irish Foreign Minister later today."

The diplomatic push comes at a time when the Good Friday Accord has stumbled backwards amid Protestant in-fighting and suspect republican attacks.

First Minister David Trimble, who is also head of the Protestant-backed Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was forced to fight-off a political challenge on his leadership at a special party meeting last week.

The price of his victory was that Trimble said he would ban Sinn Fein ministers from participating in All-Ireland Ministerial Council (AIMC) meetings until the IRA re-engaged with a disarmament commission.

The AIMC was set up as part of the Good Friday agreement to enhance co-operation between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

A Catholic separatist group was suspected of planting a bomb at a Royal Ulster Constabulary station, injuring a police officer.

A man was seriously wounded after being shot in the chest in Belfast on Thursday shortly after a Protestant politician said there was no end in sight for a murderous feud between rival Protestant militias.

A loyalist source said the shooting was probably linked to a feud between Protestant guerrillas.

Fighting between the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and their allies, the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), has left seven men dead in the province in the last four months.

"People are asking me if there is any way out of it and unfortunately there is no light at the end of the tunnel," David Mahood, the north Belfast chairman of the Ulster Democratic Party, which is allied to the UDA/UFF, said.

The shooting follows the killing of Mark Quail, 26, a member of the UVF, on Wednesday night on the outskirts of north Belfast after two gunmen used sledgehammers to enter a flat where he was staying before shooting him in the head in front of his girlfriend.

The killings were condemned by David Ervine, leader of the UVF's political ally, the Progressive Unionist Party.

"This society believed that it was looking towards a new future, and we consistently find ourselves being dragged backwards," Ervine said.

All four of the latest retaliatory killings were carried out in the north Belfast area and loyalist sources said they were sparked by a fight in a city pub last week.

"There was a fight in a pub and someone pulled a piece (firearm) out and shot ... but the groups up there have been at each other's throats for ages," a loyalist source said.

A separate feud between loyalists in the Shankill Road area of west Belfast, in which three men died earlier this year, is thought to be based on territorial and political rivalries. Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson said security forces were containing the trouble after soldiers offered back up to police in north Belfast.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Trimble wins key N.Ireland vote
October 28, 2000
Man killed in Belfast shooting
August 24, 2000
'Republican terrorists' blamed for N.Ireland shootings
November 1, 2000
N.Ireland leader Trimble accused of 'provocation'
October 29, 2000
IRA confirms arms dump inspections
October 26, 2000

The Northern Ireland Assembly
The Ulster Unionist Party
Northern Ireland Office
Sinn Fein

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