MCGUINNESS TO ASSIST DECOMMISSIONING BODY
McGuinness to assist decommissioning body
By DOMINIC CUNNINGHAM
SINN FEIN gave the peace process a further boost yesterday by appointing chief negotiator Martin McGuinness as the party's contact with the International Body on Decommissioning.
Party president Gerry Adams, who 24 hours earlier said violence must be a thing of the past "over, done with and gone", said republicans were committed to working with the international commission.
First Minister David Trimble said the decision to appoint Mr McGuinness to the Commission was a sensible move and long overdue.
"We shall now see by their actions whether they are sincere about ending violence for good. Disarmament is part of the Agreement and it must be carried out in full," he said.
Mr Trimble said republicans could play no part in the new structures if unionists did not trust them - and that trust could only come about through an end to all forms of paramilitary violence.
Mr Adams said Sinn Fein had repeatedly stated that a lasting peace settlement required the removal of all guns from the political equation in Ireland.
"The issue of arms must be finally and satisfactorily settled. This and the removal of the causes of conflict is an absolute requirement of the successful construction of a lasting peace settlement," Mr Adams said.
"In keeping with the Good Friday Agreement we are committed to working constructively with the independent international commission on decommissioning," he added.
Mr Adams said he believed the wholehearted implementation of the Belfast Agreement had the capacity to transform the existing situation through constructive and dynamic political development.
"Sinn Fein accordingly believe that all participants to the Agreement must now act with renewed commitment to the implementation of all aspects of it within the timescale of the Agreement," Mr Adams said.
Republicans Mr Adams insisted, were demonstrating confidence-building measures and he called on unionists to do likewise.
Mr McGuinness said in the aftermath of the Omagh bomb atrocity there was an expectation that political leaders should lead. There had in the past been too much focus on decommissioning and that had created an obstacle - but that had now been removed.
He called on all parties to move the peace process forward.
Speaking outside the Waterfront Hall after his nomination, he said: "We're hoping that by next week all the leaders of the parties will see the need to engage and have a real dialogue on how to move the process forward.
"I think in the aftermath of Omagh the hopes and expectations of the people for their political leaders is that they do the right thing and engage with one another.
"The big difficulty is that some people have attempted to focus all the attention on the decommissioning issue. We think that's a mistake. To use any issue as an obstacle to progress and as preconditions for the participation of any party with a sizeable electoral mandate like ourselves is wrong."
Meanwhile Pastor Kenny McClinton, the Loyalist Volunteer Force representative to the decommissioning body, yesterday delivered a letter to North Secretary Mo Mowlam announcing his decision to step down from the post.
Mr McClinton accused Dr Mowlam of squandering the opportunity provided by the LVF ceasefire.
But Progressive Unionist spokesman David Ervine said he believed that if the IRA war was over then the loyalist war was also over.
Mr Ervine said it had been the opinion of the Protestant paramilitary groups that if IRA violence or the threat of such violence did not exist then loyalist violence would not exist.
"There was a time when loyalists said no first strike and these circumstances will be absolutely honoured by them because it is their opinion that if the threat of IRA violence did not exist then loyalist violence would not exist."
But he said definite action was now needed to cement the new confidence. "We have to see the evidence that the absence of violence is complete and from both traditions," he said.
By DOMINIC CUNNINGHAM
SINN FEIN gave the peace process a further boost yesterday by appointing chief negotiator Martin McGuinness as the party's contact with the International Body on Decommissioning.
Party president Gerry Adams, who 24 hours earlier said violence must be a thing of the past "over, done with and gone", said republicans were committed to working with the international commission.
First Minister David Trimble said the decision to appoint Mr McGuinness to the Commission was a sensible move and long overdue.
"We shall now see by their actions whether they are sincere about ending violence for good. Disarmament is part of the Agreement and it must be carried out in full," he said.
Mr Trimble said republicans could play no part in the new structures if unionists did not trust them - and that trust could only come about through an end to all forms of paramilitary violence.
Mr Adams said Sinn Fein had repeatedly stated that a lasting peace settlement required the removal of all guns from the political equation in Ireland.
"The issue of arms must be finally and satisfactorily settled. This and the removal of the causes of conflict is an absolute requirement of the successful construction of a lasting peace settlement," Mr Adams said.
"In keeping with the Good Friday Agreement we are committed to working constructively with the independent international commission on decommissioning," he added.
Mr Adams said he believed the wholehearted implementation of the Belfast Agreement had the capacity to transform the existing situation through constructive and dynamic political development.
"Sinn Fein accordingly believe that all participants to the Agreement must now act with renewed commitment to the implementation of all aspects of it within the timescale of the Agreement," Mr Adams said.
Republicans Mr Adams insisted, were demonstrating confidence-building measures and he called on unionists to do likewise.
Mr McGuinness said in the aftermath of the Omagh bomb atrocity there was an expectation that political leaders should lead. There had in the past been too much focus on decommissioning and that had created an obstacle - but that had now been removed.
He called on all parties to move the peace process forward.
Speaking outside the Waterfront Hall after his nomination, he said: "We're hoping that by next week all the leaders of the parties will see the need to engage and have a real dialogue on how to move the process forward.
"I think in the aftermath of Omagh the hopes and expectations of the people for their political leaders is that they do the right thing and engage with one another.
"The big difficulty is that some people have attempted to focus all the attention on the decommissioning issue. We think that's a mistake. To use any issue as an obstacle to progress and as preconditions for the participation of any party with a sizeable electoral mandate like ourselves is wrong."
Meanwhile Pastor Kenny McClinton, the Loyalist Volunteer Force representative to the decommissioning body, yesterday delivered a letter to North Secretary Mo Mowlam announcing his decision to step down from the post.
Mr McClinton accused Dr Mowlam of squandering the opportunity provided by the LVF ceasefire.
But Progressive Unionist spokesman David Ervine said he believed that if the IRA war was over then the loyalist war was also over.
Mr Ervine said it had been the opinion of the Protestant paramilitary groups that if IRA violence or the threat of such violence did not exist then loyalist violence would not exist.
"There was a time when loyalists said no first strike and these circumstances will be absolutely honoured by them because it is their opinion that if the threat of IRA violence did not exist then loyalist violence would not exist."
But he said definite action was now needed to cement the new confidence. "We have to see the evidence that the absence of violence is complete and from both traditions," he said.
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/222
Published Date: 03-Sep-98
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