Trimble casts shadow over push for peace

THE Northern Ireland Assembly elections are set to go ahead one month from today, even in the absence of further IRA clarifications on its plans.

The IRA will be pressed to say it intends to end all its activities until the weekend but after that the governments are likely to try and pick up the pieces after the May 29 elections.

Although the British Government is expected to come under pressure from the Ulster Unionist Party to postpone the elections, such a decision would cause a major rift between the two governments. UUP leader David Trimble warned yesterday that he will effectively prevent the establishment of an executive after the election by not putting forward candidates for any positions in the devolved Government.

As the governments welcomed Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams’ clarification on the IRA’s plans to put all arms beyond use and bring final closure to the conflict, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the governments were very close to bringing about the acts of completion necessary to move the stalled peace process forward: “We are within a whisker, an important whisker, of trying to see a conclusion of that.”

Following a meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy in Belfast, Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen said as far as the Government was concerned the May 29 elections were going ahead. “As we have said and the Secretary of State has said the date of the elections is fixed in law,” he said.

Government sources acknowledged the final necessary clarification may not be received until after the election. In its the absence of that clarity, the governments will not publish their joint proposals to kick-start the Good Friday Agreement. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said progress had been made but there was still work to do. “Is there going to be an end to all paramilitary activity of the sort that gave rise to the sort of problems that we have?” he said.

Calling for the publication of the IRA statement, Mr Trimble said he would refuse to elect a first or deputy first minister after the elections as complete clarity from the IRA had not been provided.

According to Mr Adams, the onus was now on the Ulster Unionist leader to declare his hand.