The Hindu : Peace process suffers setback

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 30, 2003

International

International

Peace process suffers setback

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON NOV. 29. The fragile Northern Ireland peace process faces an uncertain future with hardline Unionists and Republicans emerging as the largest groups after elections to the 108-member Provincial Assembly, results for which were announced on Friday.

Moderate Unionism suffered a huge blow as David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) was overtaken by Ian Paisley's hawkish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which wants the 1998 Good Friday Agreement renegotiated on the plea that it is loaded in favour of Republicans.

On the other side of the sectarian divide, Sinn Fein — the political arm of the IRA — pushed out the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), which represents the softer face of Republicanism. The emergence of Sinn Fein as the dominant Republican voice was seen as an indication of how much the party, once associated with guns and bullets, has changed in its bid to become more widely acceptable.

Immediate prospects of the formation of a new government looked remote as the DUP reiterated that it would not work with Sinn Fein until the IRA was disbanded.

Rules require the largest Unionist and Republican parties to form a coalition in order to provide representation to both communities, but with the DUP refusing to "talk'' to Sinn Fein, a political deadlock loomed. "I'am not talking to Sinn Fein and my party's not talking to Sinn Fein, and anybody that talks to Sinn Fein will be out of my party,'' Mr. Paisley said as his party claimed that its "victory'' showed that Unionists had lost faith in the way the peace process had been implemented under the UUP leadership.

Mr. Trimble was under pressure from his own party hardliners who blamed his policies for the UUP's poor performance.

"I never thought I would live to see the day that the Ulster Unionist Party, once the largest and the strongest party in Northern Ireland, would end up in third place.... The Good Friday is dead in the water,'' said the party hawk, Jeffrey Donaldson.

Even as the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, made clear that the "fundamentals'' of the God Friday Agreement were "not open to negotiation'', efforts were being made to find a middle path.

The Northern Ireland Secretary, Paul Murphy, who embarked on a series of meetings with leaders of various political parties to break the deadlock, said the situation was "difficult but not impossible''.

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