Another effort to rescue the Good Friday Agreement has come unglued after the Ulster Unionistsr once again reneged on a major deal involving the two governments, Sinn Fein, the IRA and the Ulster Unionists.
A surprise objection by Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble to a statement by General John de Chastelain -- in which he outlined the third major act of disarmament by the IRA -- meant that a day that began filled with hope for a new dawn ended in a bad-tempered political melee.
Just hours after it was confirmed that the IRA had put more weapons and explosives beyond use than ever before, Mr Trimble said the process had lacked the transparency he had expected and refused to co-operate further.
After "a long day, a long week, and a long month", Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said he wanted his comments to remain restrained.
He expressed his party's profound disappointment at this evening's developments but said that Sinn Fein remained fully committed to finding a way to break the current impasse.
He drew attention to the significance of the republican statements in the morning, historic statements which have failed to yield the expected quid-pro-quo.
In a keynote speech earlier, he said Sinn Fein's position was "one of total and absolute commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means of resolving differences. We are opposed to any use or threat of force for any political purpose."
He said that "implementation by the two Governments and the parties of their commitments under the Agreement provide the context in which Irish Republicanism and Unionists will as equals pursue their objectives peacefully, thus providing full and final closure of the conflict."
That speech was significantly endorsed by the IRA, which said that it accurately reflected its own position.
"For 30 years people in this part of Ireland have been killing each other on a daily basis," said Mr Adams. "Had such a statement been made 20, 10 or even five years ago, it would have been seen as a miracle," he said.
He said it was possible that "whatever is done will not be good enough because there is an element of politicians in this part of the world who are against change," he said.
He said he did not know how a resolution could be found, and stressed that the ground rules laid down for the IICD commission on arms decommissioning -- which allow for specific details of the acts to remain confidential -- had to be respected.
"I do not know how a report prepared by a Commission which was set up by the governments can be changed, corrected, nuanced or operated upon to suit the needs of any particular party at this time.
"I do not know how when one party unilaterally moves to suspend the sequence, how this can be put back together again in the short term."
At the end of the fruitless talks this evening, he summed up one view of the problem by warning that one man's "transparancy" is another man's "humiliation".
Mr Adams said there were profound difficulties in resolving the problems. But he added that Mr Trimble should not have been in any doubt about what had been agreed.
"There could not have been, under any circumstances any misunderstanding at all," he said "Do you think that the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach would have flown in had there not been an agreement, had there not been an agreed sequence?"
PRIME MINISTERS FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE
It is a huge set back for London and Dublin who had talked up hopes of a major political breakthrough.
In April, the negotiations were said to be fifty minutes away from a historic deal, and this evening saw a similarly narrow miss.
At a joint press conference earlier this evening, the Taoiseach Mr Ahern and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair said they would continue working in an effort to resolve the current "glitch" in the peace process.
"It wouldn't be the Northern Ireland peace process without the odd glitch to come along," Mr Blair said.
He said the UUP wanted "a greater degree of particularity as to what
was actually put beyond use."
At the end of tonight's talkm, Mr Blair said he was disappointed at what had happened but was hopeful that the
issue could be resolved.
"I believe that if people knew the information that we have been told, yes they would be satisfied," he said. "But it is
also the case that the commission enter into certain agreements with the bodies that do the decommissioning.
"One part of that agreement, as they are entitled to do under the legislation, was a confidentiality clause on the exact
Mr Blair and Mr Ahern stressed at the end of talks that all other areas of agreement remained intact, and that the
election would indeed go ahead on November 26th.
David Trimble said today he would allow a week for the necessary "certainty" on decommissioning to be provided. However, in the current dark mood, it is thought unlikely that a resolution will be found before the election.
TODAY'S EVENTS
7 a.m. British government announces elections will take place on November 26th
10.30 a.m. Gerry Adams insists republicans are committed to peaceful means
Midday IRA issues statement saying it has authorised a further act of putting arms beyond use
3 p.m. IRA issues second statement confirming a new act of weapons decommissioning
4 p.m. Gen John de Chastelain confirms the IRA has carried out a third and substantial act of decommissioning
5.30 p.m. David Trimble says IRA decommissioning is not transparent enough and his party will be putting the process on hold
6.15 p.m. Blair and Ahern commit to working through the current 'glitch'
9.45 p.m. At the end of talks, the talks participants reveal that no quick fix was found.
c. RM Distribution and others. Articles may be reprinted with credit.
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