IRA actions could "derail" peace process says Clinton

PRESIDENT Clinton has expressed deep concern over recent IRA actions which a White House statement says can only "derail" the progress of recent weeks in getting the peace process going again.

While the statement was made by the press secretary, Mr Mike McCurry, it was President Clinton himself who initiated it, thus showing his personal concern about the threat of continued violence for the future of the peace process, an official told The Irish Times.

Northern Ireland was the main subject of the recent meeting in London between President Clinton and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, from which all officials were excluded, it has been learned here. Following this meeting, President Clinton is more motivated than ever to help the peace process. The statement is thus seen as a sign of the renewed US efforts to work with the British and Irish governments in trying to secure an IRA ceasefire and a place for Sinn Fein at the peace talks.

In the statement, the White House press secretary said the Administration was "deeply concerned" about the IRA attack on Tuesday in Derry against British troops and the abandoning of a van full of explosives in Belfast last week.

"Violence can only derail the progress that has been made in recent weeks towards an inclusive negotiating process based on an unequivocal ceasefire and commitment to democratic principles which can lead to a just and lasting peace for the people of Northern Ireland," the statement said.

It said that "the Administration joins the many Americans who have worked for the resolution of this conflict in calling for an immediate unequivocal end to violence which threatens to wreck the prospects for a meaningful, inclusive negotiations on the future of Northern Ireland."

President Clinton also issued a personal statement when the multiparty talks resumed in Belfast last week, again showing his attachment to their ultimate success. In the statement he said pointedly that "if the IRA declares and implements an unequivocal ceasefire, I am confident that Sinn Fein will be invited to add its voices to the other parties at the table as they forge a new future for themselves and their children."

An Administration official said yesterday that in this way, the President was trying to assure the IRA and Sinn Fein that there will not be repetition of what happened after the 1994 ceasefire, when 17 months elapsed and Sinn Fein was still not included in the talks. "It is almost a guarantee to the IRA," the official said.

Officials here also believe that the British Government is being more flexible in the present meetings with Sinn Fein over the question of its admission to the talks in the event of a renewed IRA ceasefire.