DUP ask Kerry for position on disarmament

US Presidential candidate John Kerry was challenged today by unionists in Northern Ireland to make it clear that the IRA is blocking political progress in the province.

US Presidential candidate John Kerry was challenged today by unionists in Northern Ireland to make it clear that the IRA is blocking political progress there.

The Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists, who last November became Northern Ireland’s largest party in the Assembly Elections, today called on the Democrat to make it clear that the refusal of the Provisionals to disarm was the main problem.

In a letter signed by the party’s six-strong team of MPs and 33 MLAs, the DUP also expressed concern that in a statement to Irish Americans during the Democratic primaries earlier this year the Massachusetts Senator had criticised their refusal to share power.

The DUP wrote: “Our position on this has been very clear.

“We are happy to form a government with any parties that are committed to a peaceful, democratic, political process. We do not want to form a government with a party that has links with a terrorist organisation that has explicitly refused to give up its weapons.

“Senator Kerry, in speech after speech you have made it clear that you will continue to wage war on terrorism. We welcome that.

“But how are you able to reconcile this with your condemnation of our reluctance to join a government with an organisation that has links to a terrorist organisation?

“Surely there is a serious contradiction here? Is it your view that we are wrong to take this position?”

Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government and Assembly since October 2002 when it collapsed over concerns about IRA activity.

Two attempts to restore the Stormont Assembly failed last year amid continued unionist concerns about the IRA’s intentions.

During the campaign, Senator Kerry has made a number of statements on Northern Ireland.

Earlier this year, he accused US President George W Bush of downgrading the White House’s involvement in the peace process and vowed to increase US engagement to the level under President Bill Clinton.

The statement also said: “The DUP cannot be permitted to disenfranchise half the population of Northern Ireland by refusing to form a government with Sinn Féin.”

In March Senator Kerry also met Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness in Boston who briefed him on the problems in the process.

The Senator was also one of a group of senior US politicians who wrote to British Prime Minister Tony Blair calling for an inquiry into allegations of security force collusion in the 1989 murder by loyalists of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell noted today Senator Kerry had said Northern Ireland would be one of his foreign policy priorities if he won the election.

“It may be that he could play a constructive role but first he needs to make it clear that there is no moral equivalence between our position and the position of IRA/Sinn Fein,” the East Derry MP said.

“Our position is simple – we will not countenance going into government with Sinn Féin while the IRA retains its guns and bombs. What is Senator Kerry’s position?”