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08/05/2003
SF president calls for June elections
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has called for a June election following the postponement of this month's elections by Prime Minister Tony Blair last week.
The West Belfast MP described Mr Blair's decision as a "serious mistake and a slap in the face" for the Good Friday Agreement.
Speaking in London yesterday, Mr Adams said: "Peace requires justice, and peace processes are about empowering people, are about a rights centred disposition, and are about making politics work.
"Mr Blair should reverse his decision on the elections and enable them to go forward as soon as possible. There is no reason why there cannot be a June election."
Mr Adams also said that no one should underestimate the significance of the IRA engaging with the International Independent Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) while the institutions are suspended, or the IRA's willingness to undertake another act of putting arms beyond use.
He added: "The sequence of events was to be the Joint Declaration - a statement from me in response to this pointing up the difficulty caused by David Trimble's refusal to commit to being part of institutions.
"He was then to publicly commit himself to recommending participation in the institutions to the UUC. This public pledge would have triggered the IRA putting more arms beyond use.
"When the IRA say their arrangements were at an advanced stage they mean that Volunteers sat for days with a substantial amount of equipment waiting for a yes from the UUP or the British government. That yes never came.
So with the UUP implacably opposed to progress at this point and a British government willing to exercise a unionist veto, we now face into a period of political uncertainty."
However, senior UUP member Dermot Nesbitt has challenged the Republican movement to spell out the significance of the latest IRA statements.
He said: “The IRA said that its statement contained significant proposals to move the process forward and that it wanted to address unionist concerns. I would simply ask the Republican movement: could someone spell it out simply, and openly, what is significant - that has not been said previously by the IRA - that will move the peace process forward?
“Yes, we now read that the IRA poses no threat to the unionist people, but what about nationalist people? Will punishment beatings and exiling continue against the nationalist community?
“Some media and church spokesmen have presented the IRA statement as both essentially new and sensitive to the needs of Unionism. I wish it had been, but regrettably it’s not. The IRA’s defined process to peace is, at its core, unchanged from its position three years ago.”
Meanwhile, UUP deputy leader Lord Kilclooney has said he believes direct rule could last for up to a generation in Northern Ireland.
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster on Thursday, Lord Kilclooney said: "I am a bit concerned that there will be no assembly after the autumn because of the stance of Sinn Fein/IRA and because the SDLP will not take a strong line against Sinn Fein.
"Because of that, I don't see the possibility of agreement and we are, therefore, going to have direct rule for perhaps another generation," he added.
(MB)
The West Belfast MP described Mr Blair's decision as a "serious mistake and a slap in the face" for the Good Friday Agreement.
Speaking in London yesterday, Mr Adams said: "Peace requires justice, and peace processes are about empowering people, are about a rights centred disposition, and are about making politics work.
"Mr Blair should reverse his decision on the elections and enable them to go forward as soon as possible. There is no reason why there cannot be a June election."
Mr Adams also said that no one should underestimate the significance of the IRA engaging with the International Independent Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) while the institutions are suspended, or the IRA's willingness to undertake another act of putting arms beyond use.
He added: "The sequence of events was to be the Joint Declaration - a statement from me in response to this pointing up the difficulty caused by David Trimble's refusal to commit to being part of institutions.
"He was then to publicly commit himself to recommending participation in the institutions to the UUC. This public pledge would have triggered the IRA putting more arms beyond use.
"When the IRA say their arrangements were at an advanced stage they mean that Volunteers sat for days with a substantial amount of equipment waiting for a yes from the UUP or the British government. That yes never came.
So with the UUP implacably opposed to progress at this point and a British government willing to exercise a unionist veto, we now face into a period of political uncertainty."
However, senior UUP member Dermot Nesbitt has challenged the Republican movement to spell out the significance of the latest IRA statements.
He said: “The IRA said that its statement contained significant proposals to move the process forward and that it wanted to address unionist concerns. I would simply ask the Republican movement: could someone spell it out simply, and openly, what is significant - that has not been said previously by the IRA - that will move the peace process forward?
“Yes, we now read that the IRA poses no threat to the unionist people, but what about nationalist people? Will punishment beatings and exiling continue against the nationalist community?
“Some media and church spokesmen have presented the IRA statement as both essentially new and sensitive to the needs of Unionism. I wish it had been, but regrettably it’s not. The IRA’s defined process to peace is, at its core, unchanged from its position three years ago.”
Meanwhile, UUP deputy leader Lord Kilclooney has said he believes direct rule could last for up to a generation in Northern Ireland.
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster on Thursday, Lord Kilclooney said: "I am a bit concerned that there will be no assembly after the autumn because of the stance of Sinn Fein/IRA and because the SDLP will not take a strong line against Sinn Fein.
"Because of that, I don't see the possibility of agreement and we are, therefore, going to have direct rule for perhaps another generation," he added.
(MB)
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