Trimble
wins party battle by 'sowing seeds of doom'.
From IRISH NEWS October 30th, 2000
By William Graham
DAVID TRIMBLE may have saved his neck as Ulster Unionist leader in the Waterfront
Hall on Saturday by hardening demands for decommissioning - but, ironically,
the degree of policy shift may have sown the seeds for future collapse of
the Good Friday agreement's political institutions. The suggestion from
Mr Trimble's closest advisers was that he had to radically toughen his position
on arms or he would have lost the vote to the anti-agreement faction within
his party led by Jeffrey Donaldson.
Yet the reality is that Mr Trimble has gone too far in making demands of
the IRA and setting deadlines which in all probability will not be met.
The outcome of the Ulster Unionist Council meeting has thrown the Good Friday
agreement into a fresh crisis. Mr Trimble appears to have boxed himself
in, as well as the IRA, while the no unionists - having lost this vote -
cannot feel too displeased with this extraordinary turn of events.
The Good Friday agreement is still salvageable, but the British and Irish
governments will have to put their heads together for a period of crisis
management . . . even if this means calling a review. The clock is ticking
again on the future of the agreement but in times of past crisis, the pro-agreement
parties and the governments have found a way around difficulties. The problem
is that the latest difficulty is deep rooted and can be traced back to the
original demands about handing over arms and explosives. Added to this is
the problem of the strong section of Ulster Unionism who do not want to
share power with republicans or nationalists.
Jeffrey Donaldson's motion on withdrawal from government if the IRA does
not start to decommission by November 30 and David Trimble's proposals for
a phased response may on paper look completely different but both could
lead along the same path. A total of 445 members of the Ulster Unionist
Council backed Mr Trimble, compared to 374 votes for Mr Donaldson (a margin
of 54 per cent to 46 per cent). The proposal put by Mr Trimble, and accepted
by the UUC, was as follows: In view of the failure of the IRA to reengage
with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, as from
today, Sinn Fein Ministers will not be nominated to attend any North/South
Ministerial Council meeting.
This sanction to be lifted where there is substantial engagement by the
IRA with the IICD and to be re-imposed in the event of such engagement not
making reasonable progress on decommissioning. The commission to become
more proactive in fulfilling their mandate, making regular (at least monthly)
reports, setting deadlines and prescribing timetables. These to provide
for progress on reengagement, agreement on decommissioning procedures, commencement
of actual decommissioning, and completion of decommissioning.
If either government or any other party puts obstacles in the way of the
above, then selected categories of the North/ South Ministerial Council,
British/Irish Council meetings, will be progressively terminated. The government
to convene a formal review in the event of any failure to achieve progress.
Moratorium on policing changes until peace is assured. The Ulster Unionist
Party to consider progress on above at the beginning of January with the
UU review group reporting regularly to the officers and executive. The immediate
reaction from Sinn Fein to the Trimble proposals was one of anger.
The party's national chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said that they represented
a programme for the destruction of the assembly and executive. The SDLP's
Mark Durkan said he believed the way to proceed was to have purposeful re-engagement
by the IRA with the de Chastelain commission; but, regarding Mr Trimble's
proposals, the threatening of political institutions would be viewed as
very dangerous tactics. At his Waterfront Hall press conference, Mr Trimble
was asked what was his message to republicans today?
He said: "It is essential for them to deliver on the promises made in May. They should have done so - and failing to do so has caused a problem - but they can still resolve this by keeping to their promises." Asked by the
Irish News what he meant in his proposal by "making reasonable progress
on decommissioning" (Did this mean sealing weapons in dumps), Mr Trimble
replied: "It means that there is an exercise in judgment on this. When it comes to exercising judgment, you will find that I am a reasonable man."
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