Unionists opposed to Stormont talks warn on united Ireland

Uniting unionists against the Stormont talks by the paradoxical means of dividing the Ulster Unionist Party was the main theme of a rally organised by the DUP and the UK Unionist Party in Carryduff, on the outskirts of Belfast, last night.

Unionists opposed to the talks heard speeches from the DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, and the UK Unionist leader, Mr Robert McCartney, warning that the talks were ultimately designed to create a united Ireland.

The rally was also addressed by UUP councillor for Belfast, Mr Nelson McCausland, a former member of the DUP. While saying he believed Mr David Trimble could yet achieve "great things for Ulster" he implicitly claimed he was served by a negotiating team of "doormats".

This gathering - a follow-up to the "Ulster Rally" held last month in the Ulster Hall in Belfast - heard calls for a new unionist convention, unionist unity, and a talks boycott.

Mr Robinson said that Northern Ireland was facing its "severest trial". He said he was not speaking to condemn the UUP but to convince it to abandon the talks and join a united front with the DUP and UK Unionists. "Happily, many Ulster Unionists are alert to the dangers and the traps, and some have already spoken out in line with their convictions," he added.

Mr Robinson said he was proud of the people who taunted and jostled the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, in east Belfast. He complained of "government toadies" in the press concentrating their fire not on Mr Blair who shook hands with Mr Gerry Adams but on those who "without violence demonstrated their sense of betrayal".

Mr McCartney told the rally that the goal of the British government was to disengage from Northern Ireland. During the course of the talks "relentless government propaganda will sell the surrender of the Union and our cherished right of equal citizenship as the price of peace".

He called for the formation of a united unionist convention to "awaken the sleeping giant of pro-Union opinion". In a reference to the singing of The Billy Boys, the sectarian anti-Catholic song, at the Ulster Hall rally, Mr McCartney said the incident filled him with despair. It served only to project the false nationalist image of unionists as intransigent sectarian bigots, he said.

Mr McCausland expressed faith in Mr Trimble but in an implicit reference to MPs Mr Ken Maginnis and Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, he said he had a poor team at the talks. They should be replaced with people of resolve and determination.

He complained of a growing all-Ireland ethos which was evident through the Ireland brand tourism advertising. "We also see the trend towards an all-Ireland ethos on television with the BBC committed to producing more programmes jointly with RTE," he said.

The hall was evacuated for 20 minutes after the Continuity IRA said there was a bomb on the premises. the meeting resumed after a search.