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Last day, last hope for Northern Ireland peace talks

Ahern and Blair
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern address the media before the meeting   

Mowlam: 'Everybody's got to give a little'

April 9, 1998
Web posted at: 6:45 a.m. EDT (1045 GMT)

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's bitter political rivals raced against a Thursday midnight deadline to end three decades of strife with a ground-breaking peace pact for the British province.

The prime ministers of Britain and Ireland met over breakfast ahead of a final round of talks with local politicians aimed at sealing an historic deal.

Twenty-one months of negotiations have produced little sign of progress between pro-British and pro-Irish parties, whose constituents have endured years of violence in the name of politics and religion.

But British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, have voiced optimism that an end is finally in sight to the so-called Troubles, which have claimed more than 3,200 lives.

Mowlam
British Northern Ireland Minister Mo Mowlam discusses her hopes for the final round of talks   
icon 400K/35 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

"I believe there is the determination and the will to do it and I believe we will have a good day," British Northern Ireland Minister Mo Mowlam told reporters. "There has been movement by everybody. But, she went on, "everybody has got to give a little. No one is going to get 100 percent of what they want. If everybody is willing to accept some change we can do it."

Mitchel McLaughlin of Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing, said he too was cautiously optimistic about a deal.

The Progressive Unionist Party, political wing of the banned Ulster Volunteer Force, declared "the gap is bridgeable" as negotiations dragged into the night.

Threat of violence haunts Stormont talks

But even as Catholic and Protestant parties talked peace, the threat of violence which has never fully left Northern Ireland in 30 years of bloodshed resurfaced.

Northern Ireland news extra
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  • The Conflict in Northern Ireland

    • Police arrested two men and a woman after the discovery of a small quantity of explosives in a staunchly pro-British area of the eastern port of Larne.

    "An army technical officer was called to deal with about a pound (half a kilo) of commercial explosive. Other items including balaclava masks were also discovered," a police spokesman said.

    Inside the talks at Stormont Castle, pressure mounted on David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist leader who is a pivotal figure in determining whether a new accord can be reached with his Irish nationalist foes.

    Political analysts say Trimble is facing the most testing day of his political career and has to make a crunch decision: whether any deal he signs will be bought by his staunchly pro-British supporters.

    Trimble must present his case to a 6 p.m. meeting of his 100-strong executive council in central Belfast.

    A talks participant who would not be identified said a deal was now "more likely than unlikely" following "significant moves" by Trimble's party in the night.

    He would not elaborate.

    "Everybody in there is waiting on David Trimble," said Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the outlawed Irish Republican Army which waged a decades-long guerrilla war against British rule of Northern Ireland.

    Warning of 'an internecine war'

    One of Trimble's sternest critics, Robert McCartney, leader of a Protestant party which is boycotting the talks process, had a severe warning for Trimble and other Unionist parties who might sign a deal that could lead to a ministerial council linking Northern Ireland with the Irish republic to the south.

    Such a deal could lead to "an internecine war" within the parties' paramilitary wings, he said. "David Trimble is signing up to the destruction of his party and the end of his career," McCartney told BBC radio.

    MacGuinness and Adams
    Sinn Fein representatives Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams   

    Parties representing the Protestant majority say that proposals on the table, brokered by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, are weighted in favor of republicans who want an end to British rule over Northern Ireland.

    Nationalists say that they are making major concessions to Unionists and that the Irish republic is prepared to change its claims over the province.

    Both sides are split on the powers of a proposed council involving ministers from the Irish parliament and from a new Northern Ireland parliament, who would make decisions on issues such as trade, tourism and agriculture affecting the whole island of Ireland.

    Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

     
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