Britain Sets N. Ireland Election Date-&-Trimble rejects (election on hold)

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3291179,00.html

Britain Sets N. Ireland Election Date

Tuesday October 21, 2003 5:01 PM
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Associated Press Writer
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - Breaking a yearlong deadlock, Britain set an election date in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republican Army swiftly responded Tuesday by disposing of more weapons.

In a day of carefully choreographed announcements, Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said the long-delayed elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly would be held Nov. 26. That could pave the way for restoration of a Catholic-Protestant administration for the British province.

The IRA followed that up with an announcement that it had ``decommissioned'' weapons for the third time, but offered no detail on the volume of weaponry discarded, nor on its method of disposal.
John de Chastelain, the retired Canadian general overseeing disarmament in Northern Ireland, confirmed that the IRA disposed of light, medium and heavy weapons, ammunition and explosives. He did not give specifics about the amount, but said it was ``considerably larger'' than the a previous IRA move to disarm. <snip>

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,9061,1067604,00.html

Trimble rejects IRA move
Matthew Tempest and agencies
Tuesday October 21, 2003

The Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, tonight rejected today's decommissioning move by the IRA, saying the process towards new elections at Stormont was now "on hold".

Although Downing Street today announced fresh elections to the Northern Ireland assembly for November 26, and the IRA was confirmed as having made its largest ever arms dump, Mr Trimble's move now throws the whole process back into turmoil.

The British prime minister, Tony Blair, and the Irish taoseach, Bertie Ahern, are in Belfast but a statement from the two men has been delayed.

Speaking after statements from both Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fén president, and the head of the decommissioning body, General John de Chasterlain, Mr Trimble said he did not have "the necessary confidence" to give his potential support to elections which could lead to him power-sharing with Sinn Féin. Although he took pains to praise Gerry Adams' position as "encouraging", the UUP leader said he would now call a special conference of the party next Wednesday to discuss their next move. Mr Trimble does not have a legal veto on the elections, but having walked out of power-sharing agreements before, it is vital for some compromise which allows his party and Sinn Féin to cooperate, if they become the two largest parties in the devolved assembly. <snip>

Internal critics of David Trimble have suggested the Ulster Unionists could go into a November assembly election badly divided, with the party facing the awkward problem of whether it could house among its field of candidates two of the three rebel MPs who have angered their leadership by resigning the party whip.

[J B]

1. I checked out the Brit papers to see what was up...

Apparently the IRA has not said 'the war is over', and that sets Trimble up for an electoral massacre.

[Bridget Burke]

2. Which papers?

Please supply a link.

It sounds like more Unionist foot-dragging to me.

[papau]

6. Latest: Tony Blair said Assembly elections will go ahead as planned

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/3212468.stm
Assembly elections 'will go ahead'

Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair said talks would continue

Assembly elections will go ahead as planned next month despite the Ulster Unionist Party's rejection of the IRA's latest act of decommissioning, the prime minister has said.

Tony Blair was speaking as he left Northern Ireland on Tuesday evening, after a potential deal to restore devolution in the province faltered. <snip>

[papau]

3. Has the Trimble side given up any weapons? Said the war is over?

So "Internal critics of David Trimble have suggested the Ulster Unionists could go into a November assembly election badly divided, with the party facing the awkward problem of whether it could house among its field of candidates two of the three rebel MPs who have angered their leadership by resigning the party whip" - and maybe it would not go in badly divided.

Seems Trimble wants guarantees as to his personal power.

Does anyone really think the racist Reverand will pull off a victory and bring the peace to an end? I trust the Northern Irish to be smarter than that.

[Another Bill C.]

4. The Unionists

and Loyalists in Northern Ireland are still large enough in number to throw a monkey wrench into the works. They would much rather have war if peace means one step toward reunification of Ireland.

The good news is that their majority is decreasing and it's only a matter of time.

[Another Bill C.]

5. From the Republican News Service

The Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has put his support
for a breakthrough deal in the peace process "on hold",
insisting his party had not had an adequate report from the
international body on decommissioning.

He said it was not clear that the IRA had carried out a
transparent and significant act of decommissioning, and
accused the IRA of "foolishly" preventing the release of
details of its latest act to put arms beyond use.

He said he was putting today's sequence of planned
announcements on hold and that the Ulster Unionists would hold
a special meeting.

Earlier today, Mr de Chastelain reported that a large quantity
of light, medium and heavy ordnance weaponry had been
decommissioned in twhat would be the largest such act in the
North of Ireland.

After meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at Hillsborough Castle, he said that
"the amounts involved are considerably larger than before".

Challenged about what he meant by light, medium and heavy
ordnance weaponry General de Chastelein, while remarking the
right of the IRA to confidentiality, added: ``This could
include commercial explosives and home-made explosives.

"It also might include detonator fuses and power units."
Machine guns and semi-automatics could also fall under this
category, he explained.

But Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble expressed
disappointment. In an apparent setback to the peace process,
Mr Trimble claimed the choreography around the IRA move had
not gone according to plan.

"There is a clear agreement between us and republicans that
there should be greater transparency.

"We had made it very clear to republicans, to the governments
and to General John de Chastelain that what we need in this
situation was a clear transparent report of major acts of
decommissioning of a nature which would have a significant
impact on public opinion and demonstrate we were in a
different context.

"Unfortunately we have not had that."

Mr Trimble said he would consult party colleagues about
issuing a fresh notice for a meeting of the party's 900-member
ruling council next Wednesday to study developments in the
peace process.

While praising the speech earlier today by Sinn Fein President
Gerry Adams, which he indicated had met his requirements, he
said he required a more public action of disarmament by the
IRA.

"There may possibly have been those substantial acts of
decommissioning but we have not had the transparency or an
adequate report," he said.

"Now under the agreed sequence the next step would have been a
number of statements from myself about our desire to see the
administration go forward and our willingness to enter into an
administration again.

"Everybody knows about my desire in this respect and everybody
knows how we have worked over the last number of weeks in
order to have meaningful elections to an assembly that formed
an administration.

"Because of the result of what the IICD (the Independent
International Commission on Decommissioning) has done we
probably now have less confidence in the process that we had
an hour ago.

"Because of that I regret that I am not in a position to make
those statements.

"We are now in effect putting the sequence on hold."

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