BRITISH MUST END PATRONAGE OF UUP - SINN FEIN 
08/05/03 08:08 EST

The British government must end its ''patronage'' of the Ulster Unionist Party if the peace process in Northern Ireland is to overcome its problems, it was claimed today.

Sinn Féin vice president Pat Doherty argued the only way to resolve the current crisis in the peace process was through the British government setting a firm date for Assembly elections.

"Various unionists in recent days have been attempting to dodge the core problem in this process," said Doherty, MP for West Tyrone.

"The political institutions are at the very center of the Good Friday Agreement. The absence of these institutions and the cancellation of the Assembly elections by the British government has caused enormous difficulties."

"This situation has been exacerbated by the continual pandering to negative and reactionary unionism by the British government. If the crisis in the political process is to be resolved the British government must end its patronage of the Ulster Unionist Party. A firm date for the postponed election must be set. The British government`s moratorium on politics must be ended."

In May Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said that the IRA would do nothing which would undermine the Good Friday Agreement.

But Prime Minister Tony Blair believed this was not a firm enough basis to persuade unionists to serve again with republicans in a power-sharing executive.

Despite objections from the Irish government and every Northern Ireland party except the UUP, the Prime Minister postponed Assembly Elections in May, saying they would be meaningless if devolution could not be restored.

Democratic Unionist Party deputy leader Peter Robinson insisted at the weekend that elections had to be held before any negotiations.

But with rival sections of David Trimble`s Ulster Unionist Party engaged in a bitter feud over party policy, some Northern Ireland politicians are becoming increasingly concerned that devolution might not be restored soon.

POLICE INVESTIGATE HUTCHINSON KIDNAP CLAIMS 
08/06/03 09:03 EST

Police in Northern Ireland are investigating claims by a former assembly member that there was an attempt to kidnap him in the Shankill Road area of Belfast.

Progressive Unionist Party member Billy Hutchinson said he was out running in Cambrai Street at about 0600 BST this morning when a car drew up beside him.

He said a number of men tried to drag him inside the vehicle.

"I was out doing a bit of exercise this morning when I was approached by a car with four males in it and they tried to get me into the car," he said.

"It was a very serious situation, I tried to get away and I was helped by a security man in a building who allowed me into the premises which were secure. When this happened they drove off towards Ardoyne and I informed the police who came out to the scene."

Mr. Hutchison claims the men involved were nationalists from the Ardoyne area.

Police said they were investigating an alleged incident in the Cambrai Street area.

PUP leader David Ervine blamed dissident republicans for the attempted abduction.

"I can't imagine that anyone remotely associated with the republican movement, that is on ceasefire, that is negotiating about peace, would have had the slightest interest in doing any harm to Billy Hutchinson," he said.

"Those who tried to do this probably wanted instability, therefore for goodness sake, the last thing we need to do is give them what they want."

SDLP chairman Alex Attwood condemned the alleged incident.

"The allegations that a group of men attempted to abduct Mr. Hutchinson are a sinister and dangerous development. Nationalism may well have significant differences with loyalism and Billy Hutchinson but he has been a force for progress within loyalism. If there are any groups of
individuals or any organization who thinks this type of behavior is valid or justified they must think again and back off."

However, Sinn Féin councilor Margaret McClenaghan rejected suggestions that nationalists were involved in the incident. She condemned what had happened but said she believed people from the Ardoyne area were not involved.

David Ervine called for people to remain cautious and vigilant but urged no retaliation over the incident.

DUP 'FIVE YEARS TOO LATE' - UUP 
08/07/03 06:36 EST

Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell was today accused of being "five years too late" in putting the unionist case to a republican audience in west Belfast.

Senior Ulster Unionist Dermot Nesbitt claimed the East Londonderry MP was `playing catch-up` on his party after he appeared in a panel discussion last night at the West Belfast Festival featuring Sinn Féin`s Alex Maskey.

Nesbitt, a former Environment Minister in the Stormont Executive who appeared at the festival in the past, observed: "Once again the DUP are playing catch-up with the UUP. After years of bogus claims to smash Sinn Féin, of constantly barracking Ulster Unionists for talking to Sinn Féin and following the charade of separate TV studios, the DUP have taken to debating with republicans in west Belfast. It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so my thanks go to the DUP. I participated in a debate in West Belfast a number of years ago."

The South Down UUP representative continued: "We feel it is better to meet Sinn Féin face-to-face to make our views known rather than running away and hiding, or, as in most cases with the DUP, doing nothing at all. It is lamentable that five years after the Agreement a political party who have consistently stuck to the line that they will have nothing to do with Sinn Féin engage in such a public U- turn, recognizing that their past approach to dealing with republicans was a failure. A thought must be spared for their supporters who surely did not vote for the DUP for this to happen."

Campbell received a barrage of questions at last night`s West Belfast Talks Back event, at St. Louise`s Comprehensive on the Falls Road.

However the atmosphere was polite. The DUP MP welcomed the opportunity to put the anti-Good Friday Agreement unionist case directly to a nationalist and republican audience. He used the event to challenge nationalist claims that their community was more disadvantaged than unionists.

SDLP councilor John Dallat criticized Campbell for disputing nationalist claims that they were worse off than unionists.

The Coleraine councilor said: "The DUP continue to slam the SDLP for standing for the Agreement. It is about time someone asked why the DUP and anti-Agreement unionists oppose the Agreement. The reality is that the Agreement is about ensuring equality for all. Equality lies at the very core of the Good Friday Agreement. The DUP continue to deny some of the most basic realities regarding equality, most recently with Gregory Campbell referring to discrimination against Catholics as `nationalist hyperbole`. People are entitled to ask do the DUP oppose the Agreement because they oppose equality?"

Dallat also said the DUP should be asked if its opposition to the Agreement was because it opposed "political stability and taking political responsibility for their decisions?"

"Real" IRA leader Michael McKevitt has been given a 20-year jail term for directing terrorism and being a member of an illegal organization. He received 20 years for the offense of directing terrorism and six years for membership of an illegal organization. The sentences are to run concurrently from the time of McKevitt's arrest.

Justice Richard Johnson delivered the sentence at Dublin`s Special Criminal Court where the Dundalk man had refused to leave his holding cell. But McKevitt emerged after sentence was passed to declare: "I would like to appeal."

McKevitt, who was wearing a striped blue V-necked sweater and light trousers, was refused permission to mount an
appeal by the three sitting judges after he failed to explain why. He is the first person to be convicted of directing terrorism in the Irish Republic.

During the sentencing, Justice Richard Johnson reminded the court that the charges did not cover the period of the Omagh bombing.

He said: "The court must not allow itself to seek revenge for the victims of that atrocity and does not seek to do so."

Although the offenses date after the Omagh bombing, Justice Johnson said: "The court is satisfied that the offenses were planned and premeditated and contemplated to do serious harm to people and property. The accused played a leading role in the organization which he directed and induced others to join."

As McKevitt was the first person in the Republic of Ireland to be convicted of the terrorism charge, there was no precedent for the length of jail term for such an offense. McKevitt has already served two and a half years on remand.

The trial came to a speedy end last month after McKevitt sacked his legal team, following the failure of the prosecution to disclose Gardai surveillance evidence which directly contradicted the main prosecution witness's evidence against McKevitt. McKevitt denounced the proceedings as a "political show trial." The following day he refused to come into the courtroom, saying he wished to take no further part in the trial.

The Real IRA was formed after a split within the mainstream IRA.

A Democratic Unionist MP was accused today of distorting figures about public funding for nationalist communities and causes.

Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew criticized the DUP`s Gregory Campbell over figures he quoted during an appearance before a nationalist audience. Campbell used his appearance at a West Belfast Festival panel discussion with Sinn Féin`s Alex Maskey to challenge nationalist claims that they were worse off than unionists.

The East Londonderry MP quoted figures from the British government that "demonstrated the accuracy of unionist claims and laid bare the bogus nature of nationalist and republican hyperbole."

The former Stormont Regional Development Minister said that according to answers to parliamentary questions, 40 times more public money had been spent over the past five years on promoting the Irish language compared to Ulster Scots.

This amounted to more than £39 million spent on Irish compared to less than £900,000 on Ulster Scots.

He also claimed that £9 million in public funds had been spent on Gaelic Games including hurling and Gaelic football, equaling the total for soccer, rugby and cricket in Northern Ireland over the same five-year period.

Gildernew said: "Gregory is playing a dangerous game by distorting these figures. He is feeding into a sectarian analysis of need. The reality is that the Irish language is more widely used than Ulster Scots with ten percent of the population having knowledge of Irish. There has also been an explosion in the popularity of Irish medium education. In sport, in terms of both participation and support, Gaelic games have a substantial and growing popularity."

The Democratic Unionist MP also noted that a recent report had shown that over a three-year period only 44% of aid from European Union special programs had gone to projects in Unionist areas, compared to 56% for nationalists.

He said that the Labour Force Survey showed that in the period between 1990 and 2001, only 19,000 of the 78,000 additional jobs created in Northern Ireland went to Protestants.

Gildernew accused Campbell of quoting selectively from a recent report into the allegation of European funding. The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP said: `"Fifty-six per cent of its three-year budget went to nationalist areas precisely because there is a greater objective need, largely as a result of discrimination. Gregory also fails to mention the fact that Catholics are still more likely to be unemployed and suffer greater deprivation."

Gildernew added: "It is time for the DUP to recognize that there must be economic development and investment in
areas of greatest need allowing communities, whether nationalist or unionist, to receive help commensurate with the level of need they experience."

THOUSANDS ATTEND COLLUSION PROTEST MARCH 
08/10/03 13:01 EST

Several thousand people have taken part in a demonstration in Belfast city center against British security force collusion. It is the first event of its kind in a growing campaign to learn the truth over the death of Catholic civilians during 30 years of Troubles.

Marchers rallied to Belfast City Hall this afternoon. They want to know the exact role of the British government and the security forces in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries in civilian killings. Addressing the crowd, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said it was important for the peace process that the issue was dealt with honestly.

"For a very, very long time collusion was explained away that it was a few bad apples," he said. "It was not and it is not and we have nobody more senior than Stevens saying that after 14 years and three inquiries. So it is core to getting completion."

Last April, the UK's most senior police officer said "rogue elements" within the RUC and British army in Northern Ireland helped loyalist paramilitaries to murder Catholics in the late 1980s.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner's report into collusion between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries also found that military intelligence in Northern Ireland helped to prolong the Troubles.

Sir John Stevens said informants and agents "were allowed to operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes."

PRESSURE INTENSIFIES FOR NORTH ELECTIONS 
08/11/03 12:53 EST

The British government was urged today to choose between progress or more political stagnation under the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.

The anti-Good Friday Agreement Democratic Unionist deputy leader Peter Robinson asked ministers to "end the drift" in Northern Ireland`s peace process by setting a firm date for Assembly elections, leading to "talks on a new settlement."

The East Belfast MP said the British government needed to call an early election, accepting the verdict of the electorate and allowing negotiations to take place afterwards.

He said: "The decision to postpone the election in May was a mistake which has not even served the agenda of the government. It was done to assist the Ulster Unionist Party but, as has been demonstrated since, the UUP may be beyond saving. Only elections can provide a mandate for negotiations and only those who can command the support of their communities can do a deal which will stick."

Hopes of an autumn election appear to be receding with many politicians believing the feud within the UUP will have to be settled first before a date is set.

Robinson called on the British government to "face up to the reality" that the Good Friday Agreement could not be saved because a "substantial majority" of unionists opposed it.

He reminded ministers that the power sharing institutions established under the accord could also not function without unionist support.

He said that Blair would have to accept that politicians needed a mandate to negotiate a workable deal and that the Ulster Unionist Party was incapable of delivering.

The former Stormont Regional Development minister said: "It is time for the government to move away from the position that an election will only go ahead if an administration can be formed immediately afterwards."

"This is a recipe for gridlock. It will not deliver stable government and merely gives a veto to an Ulster Unionist Party which is in complete disarray. An Assembly election will offer a mandate for negotiations and offer a forum from which to nominate negotiators. This at least would offer a positive way forward and out of the present impasse."

He said it was time for the British government to focus on what would deliver progress.

Robinson said: "The government can either bury its head or face reality. One road leads to political stagnation. The other offers the hope of a way forward."
 

As they prepared to meet Northern Ireland Office minister John Spellar, Sinn Féin`s Conor Murphy and Alex Maskey also pressed the British government for a definite election date.

Maskey said at Stormont: "It is obvious to us all that the political institutions are at the very center of the Agreement. The absence of these institutions and the cancellation of the Assembly elections by the British government has put great pressure on the entire process, as have ongoing and very public difficulties within the Human Rights Commission.

"This situation has been worsened by the British Government pandering to negative and reactionary unionism. As we head this week into yet another round of internal unionist wrangling, we will make it clear that if the crisis is to be resolved we need to see a date set for the elections and we need to see the political institutions re-established."

PROCESS LANGUISHES AS UUP IN-FIGHTING CONTINUES
08/13/03 18:37 EST

The Ulster Unionist party's showdown over the three MPs who resigned the parliamentary whip looks like being delayed until the end of this month.

Party sources say the most likely date is August 26, by which time all the main players will have returned from vacation.

The officers last met on July 22 to discuss the cases of Jeffrey Donaldson, David Burnside and Martin Smyth, but deferred making a formal referral to a new disciplinary committee until a further meeting of officers was convened within three weeks.

That deadline expired on Tuesday.

However, according to one pro-leadership source, the fact the deadline was missed was not a matter for concern.

"A deadline was useful for the purpose of focusing minds," he said.

"If there is a bit of slippage that is fine, the important thing is that we proceed with this and we will do so before the end of the month."

However, the delay does allow more time for mediation attempts involving party officers Jim Rodgers and Sir Reg Empey, who last month voted against further disciplinary action.

They have already spoken to the three MPs separately as well as the party chairman James Cooper and former environment minister Dermot Nesbitt.

They are also meeting former leader Lord Molyneaux, and honorary secretary Arlene Foster - both of whom support the three MPs.

It is understood Sir Reg has also spoken to Lady Sylvia Hermon, one of the two MPs still loyal to the party leader David Trimble, while they are trying to arrange a meeting with the other MP, Roy Beggs.

Other meetings are understood to have been taking place involving another group made up of some former assembly members and other senior figures who have become disillusioned with Mr. Trimble's leadership.

One well placed source said attempts were being made to get a group of key players to approach Mr. Trimble.

"There's a move to get together a number of key people - maybe seven - who are not officers but who could go along and ask David Trimble: 'Can you unite the party?'"

"Now I think he would have difficulty answering that. They would point out that an election is coming up and they may suggest that its time for him to consider his position. After all, the leader will have been in place eight years in September and that is a long stint."

"He has had the reports from the four committees set up to consider the joint declaration for eight weeks and there is a feeling that he is deliberately dithering."

There is also a move to have the party declare a new position on the British and Irish Governments' Joint Declaration, "accepting some parts of it" but, according to one well-placed source, "rejecting the vast majority of it."

It is less than the three MPs want and probably a good deal further than Mr. Trimble would be prepared to go.

The most likely outcome is that the issue will end up before another meeting of the ruling Ulster Unionist Council. One could be called as soon as it becomes clear further disciplinary action is inevitable.

This latest twist in the internal UUP feud comes one after the British government was urged to end its "fixation" with
the saga within Ulster Unionism and push ahead with the peace process.

Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew and former SDLP minister Carmel Hanna issued the call amid further claims that a bitter row over policy within the Ulster Unionist Party could drag on for months.

Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew said: "Nationalists and republicans are sick of the entire peace process, and the implementation of the (Good Friday) Agreement in particular, becoming tied to the goings-on within unionism. People voted across this island for a package of changes - a package which promised equality and a level playing field for nationalists for the first time since partition."

"They did not vote for the amount of change which the Ulster Unionist Council or other wings of unionism feel they can accept. The British government must end its fixation with the internal dynamics of the UUP and instead focus on delivering upon its commitments under the Good Friday Agreement. That means setting a date for the canceled Assembly Election and it means re-establishing the political institutions which anchor this process."

The British government has faced regular calls from Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Rev Ian Paisley`s Democratic Unionists for Assembly Elections in the North to go ahead.

Despite Irish government opposition, British Prime Minister Tony Blair postponed the elections scheduled for May 29 because he felt there was not a firm enough basis for restoring devolution which he unilaterally suspended last October.

Former SDLP Employment and Learning Minister Carmel Hanna said that the British government was not only failing the people of Northern Ireland by refusing to set a date for elections but was allowing a political vacuum to be created.

The south Belfast councilor said: "In terms of the management of the political process here, the British government has a lot to answer for. The SDLP has consistently called on the British government to get all pro-Agreement parties together to agree a common agenda on how to move forward.

"We said clearly that all parties must agree common understandings and undertakings as regards the Joint Declaration and the implementation of the Agreement. Instead, the British government has chosen to play a game of `wait and see` as the Ulster Unionist Party continues to sort out its internal difficulties. This is no way to run a political process."

KILLERS OF McBRIDE TO REMAIN IN BRITISH ARMY 
08/14/03 17:16 EST

The British government has rejected new demands to dismiss two soldiers convicted of murdering a Belfast teenager, it emerged tonight.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram told legal representatives of Mr.s Jean McBride that Scots Guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher will remain in the regiment. The pair were found guilty of murdering her 18-year-old son, Peter, in 1992.

But just two months after the Court of Appeal found the Army had not provided exceptional reasons needed for allowing both men to continue their military careers, Ingram rejected calls for them to be thrown out. He said: "There are no plans for the [Army] Board to further review their employment status."

The decision, which also revealed one of the pair has been promoted to the rank of lance corporal, left Mr.s McBride astonished and bitterly angry.

Earlier this week she walked out of talks with Mr. John Spellar, the Northern Ireland Minister who sat on the Army Board which initially decided not to sack the soldiers.

Mr.s McBride said tonight: "This is nothing other than the State sanctioning the murder of Peter. They have the damned cheek to reward the murderers by keeping them in the Army and, just to rub our noses in it, they have promoted one of them. Ingram and Spellar might as well have gone to Peter's grave and spat on it."

Her son, a Catholic father of two, was gunned down following being searched at a military checkpoint in the New Lodge district of north Belfast.

The soldiers' claim that they opened fire amid suspicion that Mr.. McBride was carrying a coffee jar bomb was rejected
since it became known that the soldiers had just searched Mr.. McBride. The two soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in 1995. After serving just three years behind bars they were released and allowed to return to the army.

But the McBride family believed they had secured a major victory in their campaign when the Court of Appeal found in June that the Army Board had not produced the exceptional circumstances needed to justify the soldiers' retention.

As the family took urgent legal advice about mounting a new appeal, SDLP chairman Mr. Alex Attwood claimed it was scandalous that the British Government has ignored the court judgment.

"Recently, a soldier was kicked out of the Army for cheating on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? " he said. "The message could not be clearer: it is not on for a soldier to cheat on a gameshow, but it is all right to shoot a civilian in the back on the streets of Belfast."

NEXT UUP SHOWDOWN PLACED IN HANDS OF LAWYERS 
08/21/03 06:25 EST

David Trimble's warring Ulster Unionist Party has placed demands for an internal showdown in the hands of lawyers.

Party officers delayed setting a date for a meeting of their 900-member ruling council until it was confirmed that the call from hardliners was legally sound.

Following a stormy two-hour gathering at their headquarters in Belfast last night, party chairman James Cooper said: "We have agreed to take senior counsel`s opinion as to the validity of the requisition for a special meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council."

Officers will now meet again next Tuesday in bid to resolve the issue.

Supporters of rebel MPs Jeffrey Donaldson, Rev. Martin Smyth and David Burnside have requested a meeting of the party`s governing body over attempts to discipline the three.

They infuriated Trimble in June by resigning at Westminster in a policy row.

The move came in protest at the party`s failure to completely reject the British and Irish governments` blueprint for implementing the Good Friday Agreement, claiming it was not tough enough on republicans.

Since the latest bid to bring reconciled Ulster Unionists to another council meeting was tabled earlier this week, Trimble loyalists have been studying it for flaws.

Even though all the officers who attended last night were ordered not to speak publicly, it is understood some representatives refused to accept assurances that lawyers had already declared the move valid.

"There was a difference of opinion," one source said. "Some felt they would have to get their own legal opinion on this."

AHERN UNDER FIRE FOR NORTH SEANAD MEMBERS 
08/21/03 11:32 EST

Irish premier Bertie Ahern was today urged to reject a proposal from his party that Northern Ireland politicians should have seats in the Republic's Seanad (Upper House).

Ulster Unionist councilor Ken Robinson claimed the recent Seanad reform proposal by Fianna Fail that there should be five extra seats for Northern Ireland politicians flew in the face of the Good Friday Agreement.

The Newtownabbey councilor said: "The Good Friday Agreement, which Fianna Fail fully supports and acknowledges as an international treaty, underlines the principle of consent which means that Northern Ireland will remain part of the United Kingdom for as long as the majority so wish.

"This important constitutional fact flies in the face of the extraordinary claim now being made by Fianna Fail in suggesting the creation of five extra seats in the Upper House of the Irish Parliament so that representation from Northern Ireland may be heard."

"As the `party of Europe` within the Republic of Ireland, I would have thought that the European Parliament was the place to hear the views of others from outside the Republic of Ireland? Additionally, now that Fianna Fail appears to want to add an international dimension within the Irish Parliament, perhaps they could confirm if they are prepared to create seats for representatives from the USA, France, Germany and other countries?"

Nationalists in Northern Ireland have also called for a
role for the North`s politicians in the Irish Houses of Parliament. Following his party`s submission to an Oireachtas committee in Dublin on Seanad reform, Sinn Féin vice president Pat Doherty said citizens on both sides of the Irish border over the age of 16 should be entitled to elect Senators.

The West Tyrone MP argued: "We believe that the Seanad should be elected by universal suffrage of citizens of all the 32 counties of Ireland and those resident here for more than five years who are over the age of 16 years. Pending the reintegration of the national territory citizens resident in the Six Counties (Northern Ireland) would cast their ballot by postal vote. Emigrants registered with their appropriate Irish Embassy or consulate would be entitled to vote."

The SDLP`s Sean Farren said while the direct election of Senators would be preferable, it could prove difficult to operate in Northern Ireland.

His party proposed that Northern Ireland MPs, councilors and Assembly members should form an electoral college which would cast postal votes in Seanad elections.

Under the current system, the election for Seanad seats takes place not later than 90 days after the dissolution of the Dail.

The voting system used is proportional representation by secret postal ballot. Forty-three members are elected from panels of candidates covering five sectors - administrative, agriculture, culture and education, industry and commerce and labor.

The electorate comprises of TDs, outgoing Senators and members of every council of a county or county borough. A separate election is held for each of the five panels. The universities elect six Senators while the Taoiseach also has 11 nominees.

TRIMBLE MEETINGS DISMISSED AS STUNT 
08/25/03 10:31 EST

A series of meetings between Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and grassroots members of the party were dismissed as "a publicity stunt" by some of his critics today.

As party officers considered a bid by hardliners to convene their 900-member ruling council next month to discuss disciplinary action against three rebel MPs, Mr. Trimble embarked on a round of meetings across the North to discuss the current political situation.

The former Northern Ireland First Minister was in North Down today and was also preparing to meet UUP members in South Belfast and Strangford.

But a party officer, Arlene Foster, said many members of the party had not been invited to attend the meetings across the North. "I have to say I am surprised that a lot of people in my own area of Fermanagh and South Tyrone do not seem to be aware or have been invited to a meeting in their area," the UUP honorary secretary said.

"Certainly, as the assembly candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, I can confirm that I have not received an invitation. If you`re talking about consulting the grassroots of the party, there seems to be little point in listening to those who already agree with you."

Last week, party officers put on hold a decision on whether the ruling council of the UUP could debate disciplinary measures against the party president, the Rev Martin Smyth, Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson and South Antrim MP David Burnside.

The three MPs angered supporters of Mr. Trimble in June when they resigned the party whip at Westminster over the UUP`s failure to completely reject peace process proposals by the British and Irish governments.

The three MPs were angered at plans to allow IRA fugitives to return to Northern Ireland without being imprisoned for paramilitary offenses.

They also condemned the suggestion that an Irish Government nominee would be appointed to a commission which would decide if action needed to be taken against a party for breaking the agreement or breaching a paramilitary ceasefire.

The establishment of the commission itself has been strongly resisted by Sinn Féin as it is outside the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

A bid by Trimble`s supporters to suspend the MPs was declared invalid by a Belfast High Court judge last month after it emerged the party hierarchy did not follow
guidelines properly.

Party officers will meet in Belfast tomorrow night to consider legal advice on whether the Ulster Unionist Council can debate the disciplinary action being taken against Mr. Burnside, Mr. Donaldson and Mr. Smyth.

There has been speculation that Trimble may face down his critics by calling a council meeting on his own terms.

ADAMS ON HOPES FOR PROGRESS 
09/05/03 11:35 EST

There is still hope for a political breakthrough in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said tonight.

As Ulster Unionists prepared for a potentially explosive meeting of their ruling council tomorrow, the West Belfast MP said the British and Irish Governments would have to make it clear that the Good Friday Agreement was "as good as it gets."

But he also said at a book launch in Thurles, Co. Tipperary in the Irish Republic: "I believe, and my recent discussions with the two governments support this view, that we can still make progress if the political will can be found and if political leaders are prepared to lead. We should, all of us take considerable pride in what we have collectively achieved in recent years."

"We have to keep going - we have to keep pushing ahead. There remains so many matters still to be resolved - the human rights and equality agenda, the policing issue, demilitarization and much more. The Good Friday Agreement identified what was wrong and how it could be fixed. We have to stay focused on achieving this."

Adams said unionists needed to `face reality` that there was no alternative to the Good Friday Agreement.

He said: "Of course, those unionists who are fearful of change and who don`t want to be part of building a new political dispensation - a new an better future for the people they represent - can absent themselves from this process. But they cannot stop it. They can slow it down but they cannot stop the process of change."

"Irish republicans clearly have a responsibility to listen to unionists, to speak with them at every opportunity and to seek to persuade them of the benefits of working together. That is a huge challenge for us but it is one I believe we are up to."

Republicans have condemned the British and Irish Government`s announcement of an independent commission to monitor paramilitary ceasefires, the British Government`s demilitarization program and whether parties are committed to exclusively peaceful means.

The party has accused the two governments of stepping outside the Agreement to create the body and has said republicans would have nothing to do with it.

Adams tonight called for a date for Assembly Elections, insisting it would inject a `new dynamic` into the peace process.

The Sinn Féin leader criticized Prime Minister Tony Blair for failing to commit himself to an election date during his regular Downing Street press conference.

However the West Belfast MP claimed the Prime Minister knew the delay in the election would only inflict further damage on the peace process.

"He cannot forever wait on the UUP to catch up with the rest of us," the Sinn Féin leader said.

"There is a matter of political principle involved. He needs to face up to the democratic imperative sooner rather than later."

As Ulster Unionists continued to debate the merits of the independent monitoring body, a source close to David Trimble tonight maintained the appointment of former anti- terror police chief John Grieve was very significant.

"That appointment cannot be underestimated and will have been noted by republicans," he said.

"At the time of the Docklands bombing investigation, he brought Metropolitan Police officers to the republican heartland of south Armagh. They know there can be no fooling him. He brings a lot of expertise. He knows exactly what they have and what they are about."

The former deputy Ulster Unionist leader has said he will be voting against disciplining three rebel MPs. Lord Kilclooney (John Taylor) said today that taking the route of disciplinary action would only create greater division within the Ulster Unionist Party.
 

The 900-member Ulster Unionist Council is due to meet on Saturday to debate divisions within the party.

The party's South Antrim MP, David Burnside, and two fellow rebel MPs Jeffrey Donaldson and Martin Smyth are facing action after their decision to resign the party whip at Westminster in protest at party policies.

Attempts to suspend the MPs from the party by supporters of Trimble were dismissed in July by a High Court judge because it contravened party rules. A second disciplinary action has since been launched, triggering the Ulster Unionist Council debate.

Lord Kilclooney had previously been critical of the three rebel MPs' actions. However, he said today: "I will be voting against the decision of the officers to proceed with disciplinary action. I believe this matter can be resolved without going down that route. That route is the route towards greater divisions in the Ulster Unionist Party."

He added that the party officers who approved disciplinary action against them had brought the party into disrepute and should resign or be reprimanded. Trimble brushed aside Lord Kilclooney's remarks as a typical last-minute intervention.

"It is typical of John that he always finds a distinctive point to make, and I'm sure people will be interested in the point he has made," he said.

"The point is actually peripheral to the meeting - the point of the meeting is to consider not the resignation of officers, but persuading other people to withdraw their resignations."

Lagan Valley MP Donaldson said Lord Kilclooney's comments reflected the lack of appetite within the party for disciplinary action.

"I hope people will listen to what is said and reflect on the damage that could be done to this party if the disciplinary action proceeds," he said. "It could cause an irreversible split, and that's in nobody's interest."

Some sources close to Sir Reg Empey, who until this point was closely allied to Mr.. Trimble, have implied that he might stay silent at the council meeting, whilst working for a resolution of the party's problems in the longer term.

Trimble said earlier that the so-called "dream team" possibility of a joint Empey/Donaldson leadership was "not a viable option." He argued the dream would "shrivel up in the cold light of day."

The decision to call another council meeting was taken by party officers at their east Belfast headquarters last week.

All three MPs have been charged with breaking an undertaking which they signed when they stood for election to take the party whip, and with bringing the party into disrepute. Smyth and Donaldson are facing a charge of failing to implement decisions of the Ulster Unionist Council, in their capacity as party officers.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble today achieved a resounding victory in his bid to force three rebel MPs to resume the party whip. Ulster Unionist Council delegates backed an amendment from Trimble against three MPs; Jeffrey Donaldson, David Burnside and Rev. Martin Smyth.

About 56% of delegates supported his call for MPs to resume the whip at Westminster, which they resigned in June in a row over party's peace process policy.

A total of 443 delegates backed their party leader's call on the MPs to end their protest.

In the run up to today's vote Mr. Burnside, Mr. Donaldson and the Rev Smyth warned that if the disciplinary moves were not dropped it would cause an irreconcilable split in the UUP.

Jubilant supporters of David Trimble spilled out of the Ulster Hall in Belfast. "This is the best possible result," one delegate said.

Emerging from the meeting, Burnside was defiant. He said he and his dissident colleagues would continue to oppose in Parliament British and Irish Government proposals and would then move to resume the whip. However, if they were to continue to be disciplined, the South Antrim MP warned it would damage the party.

"We will continue to oppose the joint declaration," he said. "We will oppose it in Parliament. We will oppose it
in the country. It does not have advantages for the Union. We will continue as unionist members of Parliament. We will reapply for the whip when we oppose this joint declaration and we will continue the fight."

"If the disciplinary action takes place and it disciplines Jeffrey, Martin and myself - one who is the president of our party and the other two Assembly candidates - what way is it to go into an Assembly election?"

There were calls from some sections of the party for the Ulster Unionist leadership to be magnanimous in victory and allow the MPs to resume the whip.

Former Newry and Armagh MLA Danny Kennedy said: "I think the result on behalf of the party leader was a good one. However it is not such a good result for the party because it clearly now marks out the fault lines that clearly still exist.

"One hopes that common sense will prevail in all of this and the party will somehow find a way through this. It would be unthinkable that the party would proceed now with either suspensions or expulsions and proceed down the line of associations in a complete irrevocable split within the party."

MAGHABERRY PRISONERS TO BE SEPARATED 
09/08/03 04:40 EST

Republican and loyalist prisoners in Northern Ireland's top security Maghaberry Prison are to be separated in the future, it was confirmed today.

The move was conceded in the wake of a series of attacks on republican inmates in the Co Antrim jail and a "dirty protest" by a group of "Real IRA" prisoners.

Republicans claim a pistol was brandished by loyalists during an attack on a "Real IRA" prisoner last month. However, prison authorities insisted the move was in no way a return to the system of segregation used in the now- closed Maze Prison, under which paramilitary groups basically ran their own prison section.

The move is being introduced following a report by John Steele, a former head of prisons in Northern Ireland, who was asked by Northern Ireland Secretary of State Mr. Paul Murphy last month to review the safety of staff and prisoners in the jail.

Steele's report concluded that "separation of paramilitary prisoners is necessary in the interests of safety." He added: "We reached this view after much soul searching and on the basis that the government will never again concede complete control of the wings to prisoners as happened at the Maze."

There are 650 prisoners in Maghaberry. Loyalists and republicans will be "separated from the ordinary inmates and from each other." The report did not spell out how the separation would be introduced.

Prisons director-general Peter Russell said he did not know yet how many paramilitary prisoners would be involved. He said he expected it to be more than 5% of the total prison population but less than 25%.

IRA MUST MEASURE UP - TRIMBLE 
09/08/03 11:57 EST

The IRA must accept that its days as an active paramilitary force are at an end, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said tonight. In a speech to members of the Church of Scotland in Inverness, Trimble called on the IRA to get rid of its arsenal of weapons.

He added the majority of unionists were still committed to making the Agreement work but this would not be achieved without a major move from republicans.

"Despite all the disappointments, the polls tell us that 60 per cent of Protestants still want this and that support for the inclusive Executive would rise to some 75 per cent if the IRA decommissioned and disbanded. But they will not tolerate a continuation of the republican duplicity we have had to endure," he said.

The UUP leader said he fully supported the stance of British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a keynote speech in Belfast last October when he called on the IRA to bring to an end all activities which destabilized the Agreement.

"I do not know if the IRA can measure up. But the Prime Minister has made it clear where the responsibility lies; Unionists have nothing to fear in the current climate," he added.

In his first speech since seeing off his anti-Agreement critics to win another vote of the Ulster Unionist Council,
Mr. Trimble accepted that deep divisions still existed within his party with regard to the peace process.

Referring to the International Monitoring Commission set up last week by the British government to assess paramilitary activity he insisted there was agreement within the party for the need for sanctions against those breaching the terms of the Agreement.

Meanwhile, it emerged tonight that Sinn Féin has threatened legal action unless prime minster Tony Blair sets a date for elections to the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly.

With Blair due to have talks next weekend with the Taoiseach, Mr. Ahern, on the future of the troubled peace process, republicans warned they could go to the High Court to challenge the decision which postponed the poll last May.

The Irish and British governments had planned to hold the elections this autumn, but no definite decision has been taken.

An announcement could be made in a couple of weeks, and Sinn Féin claimed there was some indications that Blair and Ahern could call an election soon.

But a party spokesman also said tonight: "Unless the British proceed to a date certain for the Assembly elections there is no possibility of republicans even considering any further initiatives."

The warning of legal action - either by a voter or the party itself - is "a live option," according to the Sinn Féin spokesman.

AHERN CASTS DOUBT ON ELECTIONS THIS YEAR 
09/11/03 13:02 EST

Irish premier Bertie Ahern has today cast doubt on whether an Assembly election in the North would take place this year. Ahead of Saturday's meeting with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ahern said there were only four weeks left to name a date.

While not ruling out the possibility that elections may take place before the end of the year, he said both Governments had not yet devised a plan "that we can feel confident we are going to implement."

He said while the Government hoped to get to the position where an election date was named in the next few weeks, this would not happen at his meeting with Blair at Chequers on Saturday. "If there is no breakthrough the Government would have to look at what could be done in the New Year," he said.

The Governments are hoping that Saturday's meeting can be used to devise a plan to inject a new momentum into the process.

To call elections, Blair will be seeking assurances from republicans that the IRA will make some gestures to indicate it will cease all activity in order to improve Mr. Trimble's electoral chances against his internal and external anti-Belfast Agreement unionist opponents.

Sinn Féin has already threatened legal action to force Assembly elections. The party maintains that if a new election date is not set there is no possibility of republicans considering any further initiatives.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams met UUP leader David Trimble at lunchtime today. They have agreed to hold further meetings.

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said: "Sinn Féin will not be publicly rehearsing all the issues discussed by the two leaders. It is a matter of public knowledge that we are pressing for an election date as soon as possible."

"There is also a need to ensure that the institutions will be sustained and that outstanding aspects of the Good Friday Agreement will be completed. Unionists have concerns as well of course and all of this argues for a collective effort. The least said at this point the better. No one should underestimate the difficulties that have to be overcome," he said.

PRESSURE ON BLAIR TO ANNOUNCE ELECTION DATE 
09/13/03 13:15 EST

Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness today urged the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to ensure that Northern Ireland Assembly elections are held this autumn.

As Blair met with Irish premier Bertie Ahern in London this afternoon, Mr. McGuinness said Mr. Blair had to make a decision in the next two to three weeks.

McGuinness said he believed elections could be held this year but agreed that the "window of opportunity" was narrow.

He said: "I think that Tony Blair has a big decision to
make and he has to make that decision, in my view, over the next two or three weeks."

Speaking after a meeting of Sinn Féin leaders in Dublin, Mr. McGuinness spoke of republicans' frustration at the slow progress in resolving the current impasse in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Elections had been set for last May but were canceled at the insistence of the British government. Since then, speculation has mounted that they could be held this autumn.

McGuinness told reporters in Dublin: "I think it is absolutely vital that the British prime minister listens to what both Sinn Féin and the Taoiseach have been saying about how crucially important it is for us to have these Assembly elections this autumn. At today's meeting, there was an awful lot of anger and frustration expressed at the behavior of the British government and the slow rate of progress."

He described the British government's position in relation to the cancellation of the elections as "absolutely untenable."

He said that most political parties in Ireland knew there was a need to see a new dynamic injected into the peace process, and said this was the only way to restore people's right to vote.

"I think the British Government cannot be unaware of the strength of opinion vis-a-vis the need to hold those elections as a matter of urgency," he said.

He added: "I think the British Government also needs to be very conscious that even if a date is set for the election, there is no guarantee whatsoever about what republicans can do because republicans are very angry. They are very frustrated. They are very resentful of the way the British government slapped down the Taoiseach and Sinn Féin and, indeed, others, on the issue of elections."

COMMISSION CAN REVIVE PROCESS SAYS MURPHY 
09/15/03 11:08 EST

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy tonight insisted that a new monitoring body for the Good Friday Agreement and paramilitary ceasefires should provide enough confidence to revive the peace process.

As a frantic round of negotiations continued with Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble meeting Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin, Mr. Murphy said the British government wanted elections and devolution to return.

During the opening of a new GBP£40.5 million plant for Baileys Irish Cream in Newtownabbey, the Northern Ireland Secretary said: "This week we are going to put legislation through Parliament setting up the independent monitoring commission. That should give confidence to people in Northern Ireland that this independent monitoring body will be able to look at alleged paramilitary activity and also, in the case of the British members, look at breaches which pertain to the Good Friday Agreement."

"I believe that will help confidence building because at the end of the day it is about restoring the trust between the political parties. I think the people of Northern Ireland want their Assembly back. They want their government back, but also they want to ensure that we tackle the underlying problems of continuing paramilitary activity and the sustainability of the Assembly which led to the breakdown in the political process nearly a year ago."

Murphy was commenting at the start of what is likely to be a crucial week for the process. A frantic series of meetings involving the British and Irish governments and political parties has been planned for the coming days while legislation creating the four- member monitoring commission is considered by MPs.

The commission will comprise former Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice, John Grieve who headed the Metropolitan Police`s anti-terrorist unit, Joe Brosnan who worked in the Irish Department of Justice, and former deputy director of the CIA in the United States, Richard Kerr.

Its role will be to report on paramilitary activity from both the IRA and loyalists, to monitor how the government is implementing its pledges to scale down military installations and to examine whether parties are faithfully and fully operating the institutions under the Good Friday Agreement.

The British government has been hopeful that the commission
will ease the unionists` concerns about IRA activity while Sinn Féin ministers serve in a devolved government.

However, UUP sources tonight claimed there was still unhappiness in the party with the monitoring body proposals.

A source said: "We are still in a situation where three of our MPs, Jeffrey Donaldson, Rev. Martin Smyth and David Burnside are going to vote against the legislation. There has also been unease expressed at party meetings about whether this commission will actually be able to work."

"In particular people are concerned that the commission might not be able to take action against a party with paramilitary links while investigations take place into specific paramilitary activity, like involvement in gun running or intelligence gathering or links with other terror groups around the world."

Sinn Féin, which has expressed its opposition to the commission, today said that if political progress was to be achieved Assembly elections would have to take place in the autumn in Northern Ireland.

Mid Ulster MP Martin McGuinness said: "The responsibility to sort all of the problems out in the process is a collective one. Everybody, if we are going to have any hope of success, is going to have to make their contribution. From our prospective as republicans there is huge anger at the way in which the situation was handled last April, but at the same time I think there is a focus on the need to have the Good Friday Agreement implemented in full and the institutions restored."

"How the IRA respond to an election, if it comes, is a matter for them. They will have to take their own counsel on these matters, but from our prospective at this time there is a big focus on what the British government is going to do on policing and the Human Rights Commission."

PROGRESS NEEDED WITHIN TWO WEEKS - AHERN 
09/15/03 11:31 EST

Irish premier Bertie Ahern has said progress is needed in the next two weeks if elections for the Northern Assembly are to go ahead.

The Taoiseach was speaking after he met Ulster Unionist leader Mr. David Trimble in Dublin for talks on securing an autumn Assembly election. He said: "If everybody moves to a position that allows us to move on we can have elections, a working executive and all that was in the Agreement."

But he warned that a period of time for setting up an election was short. "It is mid-September exactly today," Ahern said. "If we had anything done today that brings us to the end of October. We are not in that position today. So everything after today is pushing us into November. That is the reality of it so therefore we are going to try and do as much as we can in the next two weeks."

He added: "We have to really move now. Otherwise we are pushing it back into November and that is not a great idea."

Trimble said an end to paramilitarism was required and major action was required on decommissioning if the Assembly was to be restored.

He said: "We want to see a complete end to paramilitary activity and it happening in a context where we can sure it doesn't come back. I have to say on that that the Monitoring Commission - which has been set in place and I appreciate what has been done to set them in place - that is part of a way of assuring people that in the new dispensation if there is any continuing paramilitary activity it will be spotted and responsibility clearly attributed if it occurs."

Trimble said a "major decisive move" was needed on the decommissioning front to ensure an end to this activity. He said the time frame for an election was short adding: "It does really boil down to achieving a breakthrough over the next few weeks."

Trimble added that he hoped that the positive summer would help the parties move forwards in the course of the next couple of weeks.

The Irish and British governments are understood to have set out a timetable of three weeks of intensive meetings intended to bring a November poll.

Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, will meet the SDLP tomorrow and the Northern Secretary, Mr. Paul Murphy, on Thursday.
Talks are also expected to be held among the pro-Agreement parties in the North following those already held between Sinn Féin's Mr. Gerry Adams and Mr. Trimble at Stormont last week.

Sinn Féin has said in recent days that the British Government must set a date for Assembly election soon if there is going to be the possibility of movement in the peace process.

Ahern met the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, at his country retreat at Chequers, Buckinghamshire, on Saturday.

They met for some two hours with officials before they held private talks on the way ahead for the stalled political process in the North.

COMMISSION A SOP TO UNIONISTS - KELLY 
09/17/03 10:16 EST

The British government was today accused of stepping outside the Good Friday Agreement by proposing a commission to monitor paramilitary ceasefires in Northern Ireland.

As MPs debated legislation setting up the four-member commission which will also monitor how parties and governments are honoring commitments in the Agreement, senior Sinn Féin negotiator Gerry Kelly denounced the body as a sop to unionists.

The former North Belfast MLA, whose party`s MPs operate an abstentionist policy at Westminster, said: "Everyone knows that this legislation establishing the International Monitoring Commission is the result of efforts by the British government to appease unionism further. Since it was first established it has been further modified to meet the demands of the various unionist factions."

"The principal difficulty with this Commission is the fact that it gives power and authority to a British minister which fundamentally alters and is outside the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin have no problems with accountability, however we will not support mechanisms which fall totally outside the terms of the Good Friday Agreement."

The independent monitoring commission is made up of four representatives, - two nominated by Britain, one from the Irish Republic and another from the United States.

Earlier this month, it was confirmed the four nominees would be Richard Kerr, a former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the United States; former Northern Ireland Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice; John Grieve, who headed the Metropolitan Police`s anti-terrorist unit, and Joe Brosnan who worked for the Irish Department of Justice.

The Commission will report regularly on paramilitary activity, how the British Government is carrying out its plans to scale down military installations and reduce the Army presence in Northern Ireland, and will investigate breaches of the Agreement by political parties.

On Monday, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy said he hoped the Commission would provide the confidence needed to restore devolution.

The nationalist SDLP and Sinn Féin has responded skeptically to the Commission.

A "limited window of opportunity" exists to resolve the impasse in the Northern Ireland political process, the Sinn Féin president has said.

Gerry Adams said the onus was on the British Government to call elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly as soon as possible. He was speaking after talks with Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble today, as part of a series of meetings between key players in the political process.

No date has been set for fresh assembly elections which were postponed in May over what the British Government insisted was a "lack of clarity" about the IRA's future intentions. Adams described his meeting with the UUP leader as "useful - part of a network of engagement."

He added: "It is very obvious there is a window of opportunity here that is quite limited. I think the onus is very much on the British Government to call elections quickly."

Republicans, he added, needed assurances that unionists would sustain devolution when it returned and would not walk away "as they had in the past."

He insisted elections should go ahead and said if voting was conditional on him and Mr. Trimble reaching a deal, it was "a very strange sort of electoral system."
 

Transferring power over policing back to the Stormont Assembly was "fundamental" to working out the disputes over the policing issue, he said.

Earlier, his Sinn Féin colleague Martin McGuinness stressed the importance of holding elections soon.

He said: "I think it will be politically disastrous for elections not to take place this year and it would be an enormous setback to the work we have all been engaged in over the course of the last few years."

Meanwhile, Ireland's foreign minister has said that assembly elections must take place to break the political deadlock. Speaking in Dublin this afternoon during a round of talks between party leaders, Brian Cowen said this had been the Irish Government's view since the day the institutions were suspended.

Cowen said: "We just simply have to have elections. That is the Irish Government's position from the first day it was suggested to us they were going to be suspended. It was the day they were suspended. We have never agreed with that position." Cowen is due to meet Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy this afternoon.

They are expected to discuss developments after a bill to set up an international commission to monitor paramilitary ceasefires and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement passed its second reading in the House of Commons.

Cowen said his government would continue to call for elections, which he described as important and vital.

He added: "At the end of the day those elections will help to calm and focus people on what needs to be done, so that people can have confidence in those who will be brought forward for election."

At the weekend, the British and Irish premiers held what were described as "useful" talks about the political process. Bertie Ahern said elections could only be held if there was a credible chance of an executive being formed afterwards.

Irish Premier Bertie Ahern has tried to dampen speculation that a date in mid November has been fixed for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Intensive talks have been taking place between the British and Irish governments, and between Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, in an attempt to resolve the current impasse.

Both the SDLP and Sinn Féin have demanded a date for fresh elections amid speculation they could be held on Nov. 13. They were postponed in May over what the British Government claimed was a "lack of clarity" about the IRA's future intentions.

Ahern reinforced his government's desire to see the assembly reinstated, but said more work was necessary. "We want elections and we want to try to achieve a working executive out of those elections," he said.

"Everybody knows what is required but there is no package agreed at this stage, or even tentatively agreed."

On Thursday, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen met. They said it was up to the parties to prove they were willing to take the steps needed for stable devolved government.

Cowen said there had to be "sufficient political will to satisfy the vast majority of the people on the island of Ireland that paramilitarism has come to an end, that it will stay ended and people are committed to exclusively peaceful means."

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy said it was essential that people in the North had the promise of a stable government.

He said: "I think that people in Northern Ireland, the political parties actually understand how important it is to build the trust between each other so that they can establish devolved government."

SDLP leader Mark Durkan has called on the British Government to set an election date and go ahead with the poll regardless of whether political progress is achieved.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has said a "limited window of opportunity" existed to resolve the current impasse. Adams said the onus was on the British Government to call elections to the assembly as soon as possible.

Bertie Ahern said last weekend that elections could only be
held if there was a credible chance of an executive being formed afterwards.

Meanwhile, many US state legislatures have been working on resolutions calling for an election date to be announced. Massachusetts is the first state to pass such a resolution. Maine and Connecticut also have similar resolutions to go before their legislatures.

ELECTION PLAN MUST BE COMPLETED IN WEEKS - PREMIERS
09/24/03 15:02 EST

Plans for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly must be completed within weeks, the Taoiseach Mr. Ahern and the British Prime Minister Mr. Tony Blair said today.

Both leaders used an American prize-giving ceremony honoring their role in shaping the Belfast Agreement to call for all parties in Northern Ireland to "go the final mile."

Ahern, in the US ahead of his address to the United Nations General Assembly, was given the honor at the University of Connecticut. Mr. Blair was represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. Speaking as he collected the Thomas J Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, Ahern said plans for elections to the Stormont Assembly needed to be finalized by mid-October.

"Now is the time for all sides to take the final steps to make this agreement complete - the Government, unionists, nationalists," he said.

Prescott read a letter from Blair praising the decline in violence on the streets of Belfast over the summer. "That did not happen by accident. It was the result of a conscious effort on all sides," Mr. Blair said.

"And that is partly why I believe that now is the time for all sides to take the final steps to make the Agreement complete - governments, unionists, nationalists and republicans."

The letter said Blair and Ahern had decided "that now is the time to go the final mile."

"That means the Government showing its willingness to make the changes in policing, equality and security demanded by the Agreement. It means unionists showing their commitment, not just to sharing power with nationalists, but making the institutions secure and stable. But it also means the IRA recognizing that we could no longer carry on with it half in, and half out of the process."

 Meanwhile, it emerged today that Ulster unionist leader David Trimble and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams are to continue their discussions on reviving the peace process.

Adams confirmed in West Belfast that the two leaders had agreed to hold their fourth meeting since Northern Ireland pro-Good Friday Agreement parties and the British and Irish governments launched a new bid to bring back the Assembly and power-sharing executive.

While he would not confirm the date of their next meeting, the West Belfast MP, who held talks with Trimble yesterday, said: "We have agreed to meet again. It`s part of the network of discussions which are going on. I happen to think that it is a very, very important part of it and in many ways, arguably, the most important part of it. They are necessary discussions at this time and we continue with them until we hopefully come to some conclusions. It`s work in progress."

Adams, however, today stressed that there were issues about the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement which also had to be addressed if a formula for reviving the Assembly and power-sharing government were to be concocted.

"There is always a concern when the media gets itself into a frenzy and it is always usually about republicans," he said.

"There is a lot of stuff to be done by the two Governments. It`s there in public terms what they have not done. We all engaged for some time around how much of the Good Friday Agreement was complete or not complete. There was then a joint declaration which was actually longer than the Good Friday Agreement which showed the catch-up that they had to do."

"There are parts of the joint declaration which are outside the terms of the Agreement. It is a very difficult issue for republicans in terms of this so-called international monitoring commission. There is the issue of the unionists where they have in the past either walked out or threatened
to walk out of the institutions, with the result that they have been pulled down. So there is a collectivity about all of this and we just need to have a sense of that. The governments need to be reasonable and rational about what is do-able at this time," Adams said.

PROCESS CANNOT BE DEFERRED - AHERN TO UN 
09/25/03 11:18 EST

The Irish premier, Bertie Ahern, has warned against stalling Northern Ireland's political process.

In a speech to the United Nations in New York today, Mr.. Ahern said it would be "wrong and dangerous" to assume that the process could be deferred.

He said it was entering a decisive phase of challenge and opportunity. It was dangerous, he said, for anyone to assume that the current opportunity for progress could be deferred until a more convenient moment.

Northern Ireland's devolved administration was suspended last October by the British government. Assembly elections were postponed in May but there is speculation that a fresh poll will be called before Christmas.

In his UN speech, Mr. Ahern called on all the pro-Agreement parties to show leadership and courage. He said they must stretch their constituencies so that they could reach out to others.

On Wednesday, r Ahern told an American audience that time was running out if fresh assembly elections were to be held in Northern Ireland before Christmas. He said both republicans and unionists would have to compromise if a deal was to be brokered which could see the restoration of the political institutions.

Ahern was speaking after he and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair were honored at the University of Connecticut for their role in advancing the Northern Ireland peace process. Ahern said plans for elections to the Stormont Assembly needed to be finalized by mid-October.

"Now is the time for all sides to take the final steps to make this agreement complete - the government, unionists, nationalists," he said.

"The republican movement must make it clear in a way that convinces unionists and all of us that paramilitary activity, as previously set out by both governments, is at an end for good."

Meanwhile, further discussions took place today between the Sinn Féin and Ulster Unionist leaders as part of a series of talks to broker a deal to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Sources confirmed the two leaders were due to meet at Stormont as efforts continued to restore the devolved Assembly and power-sharing executive.

Adams and Trimble met on Tuesday, but have declined to go into any detail about their recent contacts. However, Adams yesterday portrayed the discussions as part of a `network` of peace process meetings. The West Belfast MP said his discussions with Trimble were arguably the most important.

Nationalist SDLP Mark Durkan today also traveled to London for a meeting with the prime minister`s chief of staff Jonathan Powell in Downing Street. Powell yesterday met the leader of the cross community Alliance Party David Ford.

SDLP sources portrayed their meeting with Mr. Powell as part of the continuing round of intense negotiations but said they would also be stressing the need for round-table discussion involving all sides.

In recent days, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has urged London and Dublin to be `reasonable` about what was `realizable and doable` in the peace process at this time.

Rather than focusing solely on republican obligations to the process, the west Belfast MP stressed that the British and Irish governments and others also had considerable work to do to implement commitments they made in the Good Friday Agreement.

TRIMBLE CALLS FOR COMPLETE IRA DECOMMISSIONING 
09/25/03 15:11 EST

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has renewed his call for an end to all paramilitary activity and complete decommissioning by republicans. He was speaking after talks in Stormont today with Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

Trimble told a party meeting in his Upper Bann constituency that he was still waiting for 'clarification' about the IRA's future. Trimble said he wanted a clear answer from Sinn Féin on
the "future status of their armed wing."

Acts of completion must mean a completion to decommissioning, he said.

"The situation requires not a mere gesture towards decommissioning, but decisive action in a context where we can see an end point," he said.

The talks between Ulster Unionists and Sinn Féin are part of continuing efforts to broker a deal to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly. Today's meeting was the fourth time in two weeks that Mr. Trimble and Mr. Adams met.

Speaking after that meeting, Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness said Northern Ireland's political parties had a fortnight to agree on reviving the political process.

He said the "mood music" had been good during the meeting and said he believed everybody was approaching the situation in the earnest manner which was required and that his party was dealing with people who "clearly recognized the seriousness of the situation."

Further meetings between the two sides are expected to take place in the coming days.

SCHOOL BUS ATTACKED IN NORTH BELFAST 
09/26/03 14:14 EST

Eleven schoolgirls were taken to hospital after two buses were attacked by stonethrowers in north Belfast. The buses were carrying pupils from the largely Protestant Girls' Model School. the attack occurred as they vehicles came down the Crumlin Road near Twaddell Avenue.

The police said that after the incident two crowds of about 50 people from the loyalist and nationalist communities gathered in the area.

Police officers and community workers moved in to try to calm the situation and a section of Twaddell Avenue was closed for a time. The North Belfast Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds condemned the attack, which he said was "blatantly sectarian."

Dodds said some pupils had been injured and others badly shaken. "It's appalling that kids should be facing this sort of journey home from school," he said.

Sinn Féin councilor Margaret McClenaghan also condemned the attack. "All schoolchildren are entitled to go to their day's education and to come home safely," she said.

"Parents shouldn't have to be sitting anywhere, wondering if their child's going to come home safely."
 
 
 

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