Sinn Féin warning to Ahern and Blair

The Irish and British governments would be making a mistake if they think they can operate a form of political apartheid against Sinn Féin, they were warned today.

As Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair prepared to fly to Northern Ireland today to breathe new life into the peace process, Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin cautioned them against freezing his party out of the political process.

With the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists urging both leaders to take sanctions against Sinn Féin over its links to the IRA, the Foyle MLA said: “It would be a dreadful mistake for them to return to the old form of apartheid politics which operated here.

“That is not the way to move things forward. In fact, that would be a backward step.”

The governments have been under pressure to suspend Sinn Féin from talks on the future of the Good Friday Agreement following the attempted kidnapping of Belfast republican Bobby Tohill last month.

Northern Ireland’s most senior policeman Hugh Orde blamed the IRA for the incident.

The Provisionals denied their leadership authorised any abduction attempt.

Last night Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson called on Tony Blair to make it clear to Sinn Féin that it could not expect to serve in government with other parties while the IRA remained active.

The Lagan Valley MP also told party colleagues in Killyleagh that other parties in Northern Ireland had to make it clear to republicans that the political process would move on without Sinn Féin if they did not end IRA activity.