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Last-Ditch Bid to End N.Irish Weapons Impasse
By Louise McCall
BELFAST (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern were making a final effort on Thursday to head off a fresh crisis over guerrilla disarmament in Northern Ireland's struggling peace process.
The British province's main Protestant leader David Trimble has threatened to resign as first minister of the local power-sharing government of majority Protestants and minority Roman Catholics unless Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerrillas start to disarm.
Blair and Ahern were meeting in Belfast to seek to end a dispute over guerrilla disarmament between Protestant and Catholic politicians. Two other issues are Britain's military presence in the province and the shape of the police force.
"This is a bid by the two prime ministers to try to find a new way forward," an Irish government spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid on Thursday attempted to play down the consequences of a Trimble resignation, saying it would not destroy the peace process.
"The process will not fall apart if David goes. I think it will be a blow, I think it is to be regretted... (but) he will stay as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, we will still continue to talk," he told Irish state broadcaster RTE.
Trimble has led the clamor from Protestant politicians for the IRA, which has joined other mainstream guerrilla groups in observing a cease-fire, to shed its weaponry as proof that its three decades of guerrilla warfare against British rule is over.
The IRA has said it wants a permanent peace and security sources say there is no sign of a return-to-war mood in the guerrilla group.
It has twice opened up arms dumps for international inspection to prove that the weapons have not been used, but Protestant politicians say this is not enough.
The IRA says Britain must knock down security watchtowers in the republican area of South Armagh and create an acceptable police service before it will move further on disarmament.
The IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, which scored gains in elections in the province earlier this month, welcomed the Blair-Ahern mission to try to get progress toward a lasting peace based on the landmark 1998 Good Friday agreement.
Trimble, re-elected last Saturday as leader of the province's main Protestant political group -- the Ulster Unionist Party, says he will quit on July 1 unless the IRA begins scrapping its arsenal of guns and explosives.
By Louise McCall
BELFAST (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern were making a final effort on Thursday to head off a fresh crisis over guerrilla disarmament in Northern Ireland's struggling peace process.
The British province's main Protestant leader David Trimble has threatened to resign as first minister of the local power-sharing government of majority Protestants and minority Roman Catholics unless Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerrillas start to disarm.
Blair and Ahern were meeting in Belfast to seek to end a dispute over guerrilla disarmament between Protestant and Catholic politicians. Two other issues are Britain's military presence in the province and the shape of the police force.
"This is a bid by the two prime ministers to try to find a new way forward," an Irish government spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid on Thursday attempted to play down the consequences of a Trimble resignation, saying it would not destroy the peace process.
"The process will not fall apart if David goes. I think it will be a blow, I think it is to be regretted... (but) he will stay as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, we will still continue to talk," he told Irish state broadcaster RTE.
Trimble has led the clamor from Protestant politicians for the IRA, which has joined other mainstream guerrilla groups in observing a cease-fire, to shed its weaponry as proof that its three decades of guerrilla warfare against British rule is over.
The IRA has said it wants a permanent peace and security sources say there is no sign of a return-to-war mood in the guerrilla group.
It has twice opened up arms dumps for international inspection to prove that the weapons have not been used, but Protestant politicians say this is not enough.
The IRA says Britain must knock down security watchtowers in the republican area of South Armagh and create an acceptable police service before it will move further on disarmament.
The IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, which scored gains in elections in the province earlier this month, welcomed the Blair-Ahern mission to try to get progress toward a lasting peace based on the landmark 1998 Good Friday agreement.
Trimble, re-elected last Saturday as leader of the province's main Protestant political group -- the Ulster Unionist Party, says he will quit on July 1 unless the IRA begins scrapping its arsenal of guns and explosives.
