Trimble
wins party battle by 'sowing seeds of doom'.
From IRISH NEWS October 30th, 2000
Mr Trimble said the Ulster Unionist Council - by a margin of about eight
per cent - had adopted the motion that he had put forward, and one interesting
thing about the debate was "that the differences between Jeffrey and myself were essentially tactical". "Jeffrey and his supporters were at pains to make clear that they are committed to an assembly operating on a cross-community basis and that any suggestions that had been in the air beforehand that they wanted either an end to Stormont or to operate with some kind of majoritarianism . . . that is now clearly in the past, " Mr Trimble said.
The first minister kept repeating that the process was only in this situation
because of what he called the default of republicans on the arms question.
It was put to Mr Trimble that he may have won the battle for the moment
in Ulster Unionism but he had lost the war by creating a fresh crisis in
the process over participation in the north south council. He replied that
the measures announced at the weekend would have been taken earlier but
for the calling of the meeting. Mr Trimble was challenged about being dragged
onto the ground of the no camp by his proposals. The UUP leader said that
was a "misconception" as, at the party conference, he had clearly signalled
that "this was coming".
Later Arlene Foster (a supporter of the Donaldson motion) told the Irish
News: "I was disappointed that the motion I put my name to was not successful but I am heartened by the fact that we have moved some way to dealing with Sinn Fein's participation in government while the IRA retain the option of weapons." Asked what would happen now and if both governments would have to call a review, Ms Foster said: "There is a great need for a review and I would welcome that. There are a number of matters that are not being implemented correctly, such as Patten and the decommissioning section."
"There have been moves on demilitarisation and there needs to be an issue of equity looked at there." Mr Donaldson said that the vote marked a shift
in party policy. He said: "In the end I think we have got some sanctions. We will continue to keep the pressure on and, if the republican movement don't decommission by January, we will be back again and I believe then there will be a move to exclude Sinn Fein from the executive if the weapons have not been decommissioned." Mr Donaldson said they had got what they
wanted in putting on pressure where it belongs - on the IRA - and there
was a clear timescale within which progress needs to take place. |
