Republican News · Thursday 6 February 2002

Commitments must be met

As talks to save the peace process intensify, it is worth surveying where we are today. The institutions have been suspended now for four months, on the pretext of an IRA 'spy ring' but in reality a British ploy to appease David Trimble.

The main threat to the Agreement is now coming from the armed wing of unionism, which has been tearing itself apart in a bloody feud, and from the leaders of political unionism. So vocal when there is even a suspicion of republican violence, they have stood silently to one side during this vicious internecine dispute, unwilling or unable to offer leadership.

This is not surprising, however. Unionism's refusal to embrace change has been one of the major hurdles for the peace process.

This latest demonstration of political bankruptcy is further evidence that unionists cannot be allowed to have a veto over the entire Agreement. The British need to make this clear to them and for their part, unionists need at last to wake up and give assurances that they are prepared to be part of inclusive and stable political institutions.

As well as the institutions, we are still waiting for the promised equality legislation, for a Bill of Rights, for a Charter of Rights for the island, and for commitments made on Irish language rights and victim rights to be honoured.

We are waiting for a programme of demilitarisation, for the implementation of the Patten Report on policing, and for a range of reforms of a seriously flawed criminal justice system.

Above all, it is worth remembering that republicans have delivered the republican constituency for the Good Friday Agreement. Over and above that, the IRA has moved on a number of occasions to rescue the process from collapse.

y demand now for the IRA to surrender in return for the British government honouring an Agreement that it entered into in 1998 but has not yet honoured in full, is unrealisable.

The Good Friday Agreement was a political contract between political opponents that offered a mechanism to address and deal with the causes of conflict. The past five years have seen that process repeatedly stalled.

The British government has plenty to say about how commitments must be met in the Middle East. It has the chance in the coming weeks to address its own unmet commitments closer to home.