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Sinn Fein returns to talks and bickering resumes
Adams In this story:
March 23, 1998
- Trimble takes barbs from both sides
- 'Mr. Trimble is a learner-driver'
- 'Selective deafness'
- Mowlam optimistic
- Related sites and stories
Web posted at: 6:45 p.m. EST (2345 GMT)BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- The Sinn Fein party returned to the Northern Ireland peace talks Monday, just in time for a fresh round of rhetorical sniping with -- and among -- unionists.
Returning to the talks after four weeks, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams appealed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to pressure Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, who Adams says is resistant to change.
Trimble, who leads the largest of the eight parties in the talks, also took some heat from the Rev. Ian Paisley, a fellow Protestant. Paisley said Trimble is apt to make compromises that would betray Northern Ireland's pro-British majority.
Paisley accused Adams and Sinn Fein of being terrorists.
Paisley (center) has boycotted the talks since Sinn Fein joined them last July Sinn Fein returned to the talks after a suspension prompted by two murders that were linked by the police to the military wing of the Irish Republican Army. The British and Irish governments suspended Sinn Fein for two weeks, and Adams kept his party out of the talks another two weeks while he politicked in London and Washington.
As he prepared to enter Stormont Castle, the British administrative center in east Belfast, Adams was asked if he were optimistic.
"Well, I think, theoretically, an agreement is possible," he said. "But I think that means that all the leaders, and I might say, especially the two governments, have to bend their will to managing change. And Mr. Trimble, for example, who has been resisting change, has to move into a new mode." (
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'Mr. Trimble is a learner-driver'
Adams continued: "To bring about change in this situation, it needs to be driven. Mr. Trimble is a learner-driver, and cannot be left in the driving seat. Mr. Blair has to drive the change forward on every issue that has been mapped out. ..."
Adams added that "the big question is not if there is going to be change, but when there is going to be change and what change there is going to be."
Paisley, whose Democratic Unionist Party has boycotted the talks since Sinn Fein entered them last July after the IRA truce, scorned Trimble for negotiating with Sinn Fein, which opposes British rule in Northern Ireland.
"Then we have the beating of the chest of Mr. Trimble, and the showing of his muscles," said Paisley. "And he said never would he be at the table to negotiate with the IRA."
Trimble shrugged off the criticisms, saying there is a long way to go before there could be any kind of an agreement.
"There are still substantial areas of disagreement," Trimble said, adding "you simply have to look at the public statements to see there is a significant gap."
When the talks resumed, Trimble resurrected a demand for the Irish Republican Army to disarm as the only sure way for the IRA to demonstrate it is renouncing violence. The same issue led to the collapse of a previous IRA truce, and had not been discussed in recent months.
'Selective deafness'
Trimble also accused the British government of suffering from "selective deafness" when it came to recent violence attributed to the IRA or dissident anti-British groups.
He said Sinn Fein should be expelled from the talks if police found that the IRA was responsible for unclaimed car-bomb attacks on two predominantly Protestant towns last month, an unclaimed mortar attack on a police station two weeks ago or a 1,300-pound (600 kilograms) car bomb seized by police last weekend.
"We can't have a situation where people are turning a blind eye to violence or allowing people to participate in the talks on an entirely false basis," Trimble said.
After Adams and Trimble went inside the castle, Paisley led about 30 supporters up to the chain-link fence outside.
He held a placard quoting a Psalm, "BLOODY AND DECEITFUL MEN WILL NOT LIVE OUT THEIR DAYS." Other signs said "IRA-SINN FEIN MURDERERS" and "NO TERRORISTS AT TABLE OF DEMOCRACY."
Paisley said he would work to defeat any peace deal if, as is hoped, it comes to a vote in May.
Mowlam optimistic
The British and Irish governments have sponsored the talks since June 1996, and set an April 9 deadline for an agreement.
Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam said Monday she is "stubbornly optimistic" that the deadline would be met, because negotiators will meet more often for longer periods over the next three weeks.
Correspondent Jim Clancy and Reuters contributed to this report.
Message board:
Related stories:
- Sinn Fein back in N. Ireland talks Monday - March 22, 1998
- Violence erupts before N. Ireland talks resume - March 22, 1998
- Sinn Fein: No decision yet on rejoining peace talks - March 12, 1998
- Blair condemns N. Ireland killings - March 4, 1998
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Northern Ireland Office
- Sinn Fein Home Page
- Ulster Democratic Unionist Party - Home Page
- The Irish Republican Army - and the armed struggle in Irish politics
- The Irish News and Belfast Morning News- Northern Ireland's largest morning newspaper
- Northern Ireland Public Service Web Home Page
- Britain in the USA: Northern Ireland: Frameworks for the Future
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