US group calls for end to Northern Ireland violence

An influential American foreign policy group today called for an end to violence in Northern Ireland in the wake of September 11’s terror attacks.

The National Committee on American Foreign Police made the call in a joint statement backed by its members and said it was time for a successful outcome to the peace process.

And it came after Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said he feared the Northern Ireland Assembly is on course to collapse before the end of next weekend.

Mr Trimble said the assembly will not survive if a bid to oust Sinn Fein from power in the North fails.

The committee, which includes George Keenan, a former top State Department adviser, and which earlier this year gave former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam its highest award, said the September 11 attacks on America should be a catalyst for lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

In its statement, the committee said: ‘‘The September 11 terrorist attack on the United States marks the end of an era and brings home to all of us how absolutely essential it is that the peace process be brought quickly to a successful conclusion.

‘‘The National Committee urges, in the strongest possible terms, that the people of Northern Ireland and, in particular, those who have leadership responsibility, show the imagination and courage it will take to accomplish this.’’

In a series of recommendations it called for the assembly not to be destroyed, for decommissioning to go ahead on all sides and for Britain to draw up a plan for demilitarisation.

The committee said people in Northern Ireland should ‘‘reject all arguments and political manoeuvring designed to destroy the agreement as well as the institutions of government established under it, thus bringing the peace process to a halt’’.

And it added: ‘‘We urge all political parties in the north of Ireland, nationalist, republican, unionist and loyalist and importantly the British and Irish Governments, to undertake the strongest possible steps to preserve them.’’

The group called on loyalist paramilitary groups to engage with the De Chastelain commission on decommissioning ‘‘as have the republicans’’.

It also recommended: ‘‘That all paramilitary groups take immediate steps to commence the decommissioning process in accordance with terms agreed upon by the independent International Commission on Decommissioning.’’

The committee called for ‘‘immediate steps’’ towards demilitarisation of Northern Ireland, and for people in the province to unite in ‘‘tolerance and respect’’.

And it concluded with a call for the British and Irish Governments to ‘‘take the strongest possible steps’’ to support the Northern Ireland assembly and cross-border bodies

‘‘We urge finally, should all else fail, that they fulfill their responsibility to jointly govern the remaining implementation of the Belfast Agreement, thereby preventing any individual or group from interfering with the will of the people as declared in the 1998 referendum.