Republican News · Thursday 24 October 2002

Urgent inclusive talks needed

Dangerous vacuum must be filled - McGuinness

Speaking after his meeting with US Ambassador Richard Haass at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday, Martin McGuinness expressed the concern among republicans and nationalists at the suspension of the institutions by the British government.

McGuinness thanked Ambassador Haass and the American administration for their strong support for the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and stressed to the US representative that "the dangerous vacuum that has been created by the British government's suspension of the institutions must be filled with positive political developments.

"There is an urgent necessity for the full and faithful implementation of the Agreement. The Irish and British governments have unequivocally stated that the Good Friday Agreement cannot and will not be renegotiated.

"On this basis they must move decisively to bring all the political leaders, pro- and anti-Agreement, together to seek and urgent resolution of the present crisis."

He continued: "The suspension of the institutions by the British government has caused great unease with the Republican/Nationalist constituency.

"For this to happen at the insistence of the Ulster Unionist Party, which opposes the Good Friday Agreement on many different fronts, has deepened concern among supporters of the Agreement and raises a question mark over the British government's commitment to face down those opposed to the changes promised in the Agreement.

"Tony Blair's speech last week in Belfast in which he conceded his own failure to fully implement the Good Friday Agreement amazingly contained no acknowledgement of the obstructionism adopted towards the Agreement by unionist leaders and others within the British establishment.

"This obstructionism has marked the history of the Agreement for the past four years. Across a range of issues, implementation of the Agreement has been slowed down and impeded and attempts to define the present crisis around one issue is both unacceptable and dishonest."

McGuinness also met with the Secretary for Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, who is a senior member of the US President's Cabinet.