Agreement must be restored, says McGuinness
The Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland will be “in dire straits” if the devolved institutions are not restored by the first anniversary of their suspension on October 14, Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness warned today.
Speaking during a visit to London, Mr McGuinness urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to call elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a matter of urgency in order to restore momentum to the peace process.
And he called on UUP chief David Trimble to show “leadership” by selling the Agreement more enthusiastically to the unionist community in order to counter the arguments of the DUP and “rejectionists” within his own party.
Mr McGuinness said he hoped Mr Trimble would emerge triumphant from the current power struggles in the UUP and believed Jeffrey Donaldson’s decision to resign the party whip meant he was unlikely ever to lead the Ulster Unionists.
But he said that whoever led the UUP in future would have to come to terms with the fact that the Good Friday Agreement was “the only show in town”.
Mr McGuinness said: “The decision to postpone the elections by Tony Blair effectively disempowers the pro-Agreement parties and it is absolutely vital and essential that the British Prime Minister recognises that these elections should take place in the autumn of this year.
“If we see a situation whereby the suspension of the institutions, or the cancellation of the elections which does not provide then for the establishment of an Assembly and Executive, goes past the one-year anniversary in October, I think the Good Friday Agreement will be in dire straits."
The postponement of elections had created “a dangerous power vacuum that could be filled by those who are not well-disposed to the peace process” in both the unionist and republican camps, warned Mr McGuinness.
On the republican side, these anti-Agreement groups were “microscopic”, he said, adding that he believed they also represented a minority of unionists.
“It is inconceivable to me that we are going to allow what is effectively a minority within our political equation to dictate the pace of events,” he said.
Mr McGuinness said that even those unionists who proclaimed their support for the Agreement had been “lukewarm” in their public comments about it since it was signed five years ago.
