Agreement compromised
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The legislation also means that the Irish government will be asked to push
through changes to its Constitution, even though the basis for the
referendum which allowed for this is being changed by the British
government
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The British government legislation published on Monday of this week and
opposed by Sinn Féin has turned the Good Friday Agreement on its head. The
entirely unneccesary legislation drafted by Tony Blair and which, as we go
to press, he is seeking to amend in the House of Lords to include further
preconditions, panders to those unionists intent on blocking political
progress and encourages a return to the failed politics of exclusion.
Republicans and nationalists will vigorously resist this latest move to
deny their political rights.
In the event of Sinn Féin's expulsion, the Six-County Executive would be
dominated by the unionists parties. This would overturn the basis on which
the Good Friday Agreement was negotiated - as a cross-community and
inclusive power sharing arrangement.
Tony Blair's statements last week that he could ``ensure Sinn Féin aren't
in the Executive, if they default'' is at odds with the Good Friday
Agreement and is not part of the joint statement- the Way Forward,
published by the two governments on 2 July.
The impression given by Blair that if his or General de Chastelain's
version of how decommissioning can be accomplished does not succeed, Sinn
féin can be expelled is wrong. There can be no question of Sinn Féin being
expelled while the party keeps to the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
The role of the Decommissioning Commission is to `facilitate the voluntary
decommissioning of firearms'. Under the Agreement, its remit is to monitor,
review and verify progress on decommissioning. The new legislation would
significantly change its remit to allow it to lay down ultimatums.
Decommissioning can only be a voluntary act by those who have arms. This is
acknowledged in the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and was accepted by
the two governments in June 1997 and by the International Commission on 2
July.
The legislative change proposed in this week's House of Commons Bill
therefore, is a fundamental change to the Agreement. It formalises unionist
demands for institutions to be established on a conditional and an
exclusive basis. Such legislation compromises the Good Friday Agreement.
This policy change by the British government will give unionists a
convenient cover for a return to the agenda of political exclusion of
republicans.
The legislation also means that the Irish government will be asked to push
through changes to its Constitution, even though the basis for the
referendum which allowed for this is being changed by the British
government.
David Trimble has been in breach of the Good Friday Agreement for over a
year. The British government is also in breach of it, particularly around
the issue of demilitarisation. It has refused so far to publish an `overall
strategy' on demilitarisation as promised in the Good Friday Agreement and
by British ministers since then.
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The legislation also means that the Irish government will be asked to push
through changes to its Constitution, even though the basis for the
referendum which allowed for this is being changed by the British
government
|
Sinn Féin took an initiative in the course of the most recent round of
negotiations on which the party had carefully worked for some time. This
was clearly within the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. It involved a
declaration by the Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams which was much more
advanced than anything the party had previously said on the issue. It
contained a genuine and advanced belief of how the decommissioning issue
could be resolved. It was twice rejected by unionists. In the wake of the
Sinn Féin initiative and at the conclusion of the negotiations, the
governments issued a joint statement and asked the parties to consult on
this.
Sinn Féin has stated that the removal of all guns from Irish politics
remains one of its aims but it will not accept any block whatsoever on the
right of all sections of Irish people to enjoy their full rights and
entitlements.
Under the Good Friday Agreement all participants have a responsibility to
deal with the decommissioning issue. This includes the two governments.
Sinn Féin has consistently made it clear that it does not represent any
other organisation. It is not the IRA and cannot and will not enter into
any commitments on behalf of the IRA.
It is only through the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and
all the parties and the two governments discharging their collective
responsibility in regard to its terms, that the issue of arms under the
aegis of the de Chastelain Commission, acting within the terms of the
Agreement, can be satisfactorily settled.
One of the most significant developments of the past 30 years was the IRA
cessation of August 1994. The risk for peace taken by the IRA created what
has been widely recognised as the best opportunity for peace in Ireland
this century.
The UUP leader at the time, James Molyneaux, described it as the most
destabilising event since partition. Unionists, or at least their leaders,
appeared to prefer the certainties of war and conflict than the challenges
of making peace.
The second IRA cessation, which has entered its third year, holds firm. The
August `94 and July 97 initiatives by the IRA opened the door to the
political progress we have witnessed and to the potential of the Good
Friday Agreement. The hope for a better future has been largely kept alive
during the past 14 months of unionist prevarication, stalling, bomb attacks
and killings, by the maintenance of the IRA cessation.
The IRA initiative was based in its own words on a desire to `enhance the
democratic peace process and underline our definitive committment to its
success'.
The IRA decision to call a `complete cessation of military operations was
built on the work of Sinn Féin, John Hume, Albert Reynolds and Irish
America developed an inclusively based political initiative. For the first
time the combined efforts of these diverses groups and individuals held out
the prospect of fundamental change through an evolving peace process.
The first IRA cessation lasted for 18 months and then collapsed because
continuing unionist intransigence was being underpinned by a British Tory
strategy which devalued the process, obstructed inclusive negotiations and
blocked progress.
A new British Labour government and the continuing efforts of Sinn Féin and
others created the climate whereby a second IRA cessation was called. That
cessation was built on the foundation stones of inclusion and the removal
of preconditions and the honouring of committments by the British
government.
The choice this week for the Ulster Unionists and for the British
government is clear. It is a choice between continuing the unionist veto or
moving to implement of the Good Friday Agreement.
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