Bush envoy warns unionist leaders: 'Uphold law'

Unionist leaders should be barred from serving in government in Northern Ireland if they cannot uphold the rule of law, United States special envoy Mitchell Reiss said today.

After some of the most intense rioting seen on Belfast streets for years, Mr Reiss called on unionist politicians to reassert their authority over their communities.

“No political party and no responsible leadership deserves to serve in government unless it wholly and unconditionally supports the police and calls on its constituents to do the same,” he said.

President George W Bush’s envoy held a 30-minute meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin after meeting politicians and police chiefs in Belfast. He also toured riot-ravaged loyalist housing estates.

Mr Reiss said everybody had been disheartened by the violence.

“It is a time for the unionist leadership to really assert itself because this type of behaviour is completely unacceptable,” he said.

“It doesn’t serve anybody’s agenda except for the lowest common denominator. Let’s hope that the political leadership and the police can help calm things down.”

The stark warning was issued as Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern and Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain called on leaders at a local level to take control of their communities.

Both men agreed it was incumbent on those on all sides to do their utmost to restore calm to the city streets which were turned into a battlefield over the last two nights.

The pair held a 15-minute phone conversation to discuss the relentless weekend rioting which has left a string of loyalist estates no-go areas.

Mr Ahern, who is in New York for a United Nations summit, also raised the on-going intimidation and harassment of Catholic families in parts of north Belfast and Co Antrim.

Nationalists’ homes in Ballymena, Rasharkin and in flashpoint areas near the Crumlin Road have borne the brunt of sustained attacks for several weeks.

The intense violence came to a head at the weekend as hundreds of rioters pelted police with a barrage of petrol bombs, blast bombs, rocks and bottles. Loyalist gunmen entered the fray firing 50 rounds at police lines.

Mr Ahern praised the work of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in trying to quell the trouble and he expressed his sympathy with officers injured by rioters and gunmen.

The pair will keep in contact over the coming days to keep a close eye on the situation in the north. It is understood they will meet when Mr Ahern returns from New York.

Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs are on the ground in the North to monitor the situation.