Paramilitarism threatens peace process, says Trimble
A dark cloud of paramilitarism is threatening the Northern Ireland peace process, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble warned today.
The Northern Ireland First Minister’s comment came after he had 40 minutes of face-to-face talks with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams to discuss a range of allegations against the republican movement, including the IRA’s links with Colombian rebels, and claims that the IRA was behind the break-in at Special Branch offices in Belfast and that the IRA was targeting Tory politicians.
Mr Trimble said after the meeting that the Unionist community simply did not believe Sinn Fein’s denials of republican involvement.
At the outset of the meeting Mr Adams, who was accompanied by Martin McGuinness and Northern Ireland assembly colleague Alex Maskey, had started to give their views of recent events as they had done in public over recent days, Mr Trimble said.
He went on: ‘‘We cut that short and told them that wasn’t the point.
‘‘We didn’t engage in a discussion on who did what to whom.
‘‘The crucial point was explained that outside, nobody in the Unionist community believed a word that republicans are saying about recent events - nobody.’’
Mr Trimble added: ‘‘This situation, we pointed out, is rapidly draining away the credibility of this administration, this process.’’
The Ulster Unionist Party said the party had been in touch with both British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and they were aware of the seriousness of the situation.
But Mr Trimble said he had made no threat to pull out of the power-sharing administration.
‘‘We didn’t make any threats, delivered no ultimatum, indicated no time scale, but we said that against the background of the situation, it is simply not going to be possible to sustain this process unless republicans can restore their credibility.’’
Mr Trimble said they had embarked on the process in the hope that a transition was occurring.
‘‘But it has been eight years since the ceasefire, four years since the Agreement, time enough for that transition to have been completed.
‘‘Unless that transition is accelerated so people can see the dark cloud of paramilitarism has gone, then we have a very, very serious problem.’’
