Crisis talks over Northern Ireland

Trimble is threatening to resign as Northern Ireland's First Minister

DUBLIN, Ireland -- The Irish and British prime ministers are to meet on Thursday to try and shore up Northern Ireland's troubled peace process.

With Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble threatening to quit as Northern Ireland First Minister on Sunday over IRA weapons decommisioning, Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair are to fly to Hillsborough Castle for talks.

"This is a bid by the two prime ministers to try to find a new way forward," Reuters quoted an Irish government spokeswoman saying.

The news agency quoted a spokesperson for Blair saying both men had agreed that "we have to implement all aspects of the (Good Friday) agreement, including decommissioning."

The Good Friday agreement is the 1998 peace accord that brought power sharing and a sharp reduction in sectarian violence between the pro-British Protestants and Catholics seeking unification with Ireland.

Trimble, re-elected on Saturday as leader of the Protestant Ulster Unionist Party, says he will quit as First Minister of the Province on July 1 unless the anti-British Irish Republican Army begins scrapping its arsenal.

Since the agreement was signed the IRA has twice opened some arms dumps to observers to certify that they were not being used, but Protestant unionists say this is not enough.

Sinn Fein -- the main republican political party -- in turn accuses the governments and the other pro-Agreement parties of placing the entire burden of decommissioning on them and of departing from the terms of the agreement in the face of unionist pressure.

They have also argued that if the climate for disarmament is to be created, the Government must amend its police reforms, scale down Army activity in the province and remove the ban on republican ministers attending cross-border body meetings.

MORE STORIES Q&A: Threat to N. Ireland assembly

Blair's official spokesman stressed that Thursday's discussions would be about many issues involved in the implementation of the agreement , not just Trimble's threatened resignation.

He added: "The prime minister has got a great regard for David Trimble. We don't want to get to that stage if that is at all possible. "If we do get to that stage, we will take things forward as we can."

The two leaders are expected to be in Northern Ireland for just one day to meet the pro-Good Friday Agreement parties in a round table discussion before individual talks.

There has been rioting in Belfast streets

Talks in Belfast last week involving the province's political leaders and government ministers from London and Dublin failed to produce a breakthrough.

The gathering crisis comes against a backdrop of increasing tension with sporadic outbreaks of sectarian violence on the streets of Belfast.

The contentious "marching season," when parades of Protestants celebrate centuries-old battlefield victories over Catholics also looms.