NI riots must stop, say leaders

Riots in Belfast have worsened in recent weeks

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- British and Irish leaders are calling for an end to nightly violence in Belfast that is putting pressure on the peace process in Northern Ireland.

"There is no acceptable level of paramilitary activity," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said after meeting his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern at a meeting of devolved governments on the Channel Island of Jersey.

"Whoever is behind any of the various community violence, anywhere, whether it's republican or loyalist, we're determined to do all we can to de-escalate that and to get on with it," Ahern said at a joint news conference.

Belfast has seen some of its worst violence of several years in recent weeks, with riots in the east of the city ahead of the marching season, when pro-British Protestant Orangemen hold parades commemorating ancient battlefield victories over Catholics. (More)

The meeting of the British-Irish Council in Jersey was meant to focus on developing information technology in both nations.

EXTRA INFORMATION In-Depth: Conflict and hope in Northern Ireland

But the talks were overshadowed by the riots in Belfast and accusations Irish Republican Army guerrillas were testing weapons in a region of Colombia controlled by Marxist FARC rebels, in violation of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace deal.

Three IRA suspects are currently awaiting trial in the South American country charged with training the rebels, something they and the republican movement deny. (Full story)

But a top-level assessment by the security forces says the IRA is using Colombia as a testing ground to develop and try out new weapons including rockets, and that the activity was "definitely sanctioned at IRA army council level."

Pro-British unionist politicians say the Colombia links cast serious doubt on the intentions of the IRA, which has held to a cease-fire for most of the past seven years after three decades of fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland.

"There is no doubt that there are people in the republican movement who have been guilty of breaches of the ceasefire," Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble told BBC radio.

Trimble, first minister of Northern Ireland's devolved government, warned of a "catastrophic loss of confidence" if Blair did not shore up the province's peace process.

"He has got to create confidence ... in Northern Ireland that the law will be observed and will be enforced, and when republicans are found to be behaving in a way that is contrary to their undertakings, that he will act," said Trimble, who was also at the talks in Jersey.

In Jersey, Blair said he understood the anxieties of unionists but warned against too much pessimism.

"There are always in these situations some people who want to run off and say 'oh the process has delivered nothing, what's it ever done for us?'

"Come on, let's go back 10 years and see where Northern Ireland was," he said.

"Remember when we had no peace process, we had hundreds of people dying, we had bloodshed, we had Northern Ireland's economy wrecked."

Ahern was similarly upbeat despite the Belfast violence. "There is a very positive agenda, even though there are difficulties," he said.