Make or break time for Agreement
| |
In Eniskillen, David Trimble sang from the same hymn-sheet as those within his party who actively and openly oppose the Good Friday Agreement
|
BY SEAN BRADY
For some considerable time now, the excuse for lack of political movement in the peace prcocess has been that nothing could happen until the Ulster Unionist Party Annual Conference was out of the way. The exact same excuse for a similar lack of movement was used last year. But now, as then, it was never anything more than an excuse and a smokescreen for David Trimble's self-imposed inertia.
| |
If Trimble refuses to get real, honour what he agreed to on Good Friday 1998 and do business, the ball will be firmly in the court of both governments, particularly the British
|
If the UUP conference demonstrated anything it was that David Trimble's leadership of the party is not under threat. There were no attacks on his leadership from any significant quarter and in fact his own performance was one of a confident and assured party leader who knew where he stood.
So what were we all asked to have patience and to wait for? Where was the white smoke in Enniskillen? There was none. Instead David Trimble, if anything, hardened his position and used the conference to paint his party further into a corner, signalling that there would be no change in its untenable and unworkable policy of `no guns no government'.
In Eniskillen, David Trimble sang from the same hymn-sheet as those within his party who actively and openly oppose the Good Friday Agreement.
On the very eve of the conference, Trimble released a document outlining his position on the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement which showed no change whatsoever in the obstructionist approach.
Responding to this, Sinn Féin negotiator Gerry Kelly said that Trimble had thrown down the gauntelt to the two governments and had effectively joined Ian Paisley's DUP in its rejection of the Mitchell Review:
``David Trimble's blunt reiteration this morning of the intransigent position pursued by the UUP for 18 months, has dealt a savage blow to the hopes of millions of people on this island, and in Britain who want the Mitchell review to work.
``The UUP leader's bad faith and clear breach of the letter and spirit of the Good Friday Agreement will have sent a shudder of despondency through all of those hoping that the Agreement might yet be made to work.
``While there will be those who will excuse Mr Trimble's remarks as posturing in advance of his party conference, the reality is that Mr Trimble has been consistent. His `no guns, no government' position, and his efforts to rewrite the Agreement, and in particular the role of the commissions established under it, have been a constant theme of UUP policy since the Agreement was signed.''
``The UUP is locked in a past which spurns true democracy and believes nationalists and republicans should remain in an inferior place.''
If we are to take the sanguine view that Trimble's address to the UUP conference was mere gallery-playing in advance of the real politics in which unionism must eventually engage, David Trimble has only a few short days to demonstrate his real intentions. But hope that the Mitchell Review will map a path through the current political impasse is faltering rapidly.
Following a meeting with Fine Gael leader John Bruton in Dublin on Thursday, 7 October, Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness said that the prospects for the peace process were bleak but that Sinn Féin had not given up on the Agreement.
``We have lost 18 months since the Good Friday Agreement, but here is no point in recriminating about that,'' he said. ``We have to look to the future. Even though the situation is bleak we are not giving up.''
The lack of any progress and the monotonus repetition of the position of Unionism that it will not allow the establishment of the Excutive has led somewhat to a lack of focus. This is particularly evident in the media, with a disproportionate concentration on side issues such as the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the new British direct ruler in the north and speculation about whether the talks venue under the Mitchell Review will be moved out of Ireland.
Commenting on Monday in response to news that Mo Mowlam was to be replaced as Six-County Secretary of State, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said: ``I wish Mo Mowlam well in her new job.
``I am sure that she will bring to it the same energy and focus she brought to her time in the north.
``Mo Mowlam played a central role in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement. While personalities impact on any situation what is critical is the politics, and in particular in this instance, the policy of the British government.
``It is crucial that her successor implements British government policy which is the Good Friday Agreement, and that he resists unionist attempts to rewrite, reinterpret or renegotiate the Agreement.
``I will be seeking an urgent and early meeting with Mr Mandelson.''
Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Gerry Kelly led a Sinn Féin delegation to London on Wednesday, 13 October to participate in talks under the Review chaired by US Senator George Mitchell.
The requirement for progress over the next week is that David Trimble must get real. There is no time left if the Agreement is to be rescued. If Trimble refuses to get real, honour what he agreed to on Good Friday 1998 and do business, the ball will be firmly in the court of both governments. In particular the major responsibility will lie with the British government not to reward unionism for reneging on its committments and to ensure that what was agreed18 months ago is implemented.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)