Blair phones Clinton over crisis in Northern power-sharing plans

President Clinton and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, had a 20-minute telephone conversation yesterday on the situation…

President Clinton and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, had a 20-minute telephone conversation yesterday on the situation in Northern Ireland following the failure to set up the executive.

Mr Blair initiated the call to update the President, according to the White House.

They discussed the meeting next week in London between Mr Blair and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, which will be attended by former Senator George Mitchell who chaired the negotiations leading up to the Good Friday agreement.

Asked if the leaders might consider asking Mr Mitchell to chair a fresh round of negotiations, the spokesman said that the leaders would be "getting his perspective on what to do at this point."

READ MORE

There was some unease expressed on Capitol Hill about a future role for Mr Mitchell. Democratic Congressman Richard Neal told The Irish Times that he was sceptical about bringing Mr Mitchell back into the process.

"I hope the unionists will not interpret George Mitchell's role as one of reopening the Good Friday agreement. That would be a disaster for all parties. The agreement was signed, sealed, delivered and ratified by the people and that is where we should leave it," Mr Neal said.

Earlier at a press conference in front of the Capitol, a group of members of Congress denounced the role of the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, in the failure to form the executive.

Republican Congressman Ben Gilman, joint chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs, said that "the unionists' real goal is to hang on to unlimited power and thwart the will of the Irish people in both the North and the South".

Mr Gilman said: "The unionists, when faced ultimately with the need to share real power with the nationalist minority on the future of a new Ireland, loudly said No. These rejectionists have finally made clear the real debate was never about guns."

Democratic Congressman Joseph Crowley from New York said that the "UUP has been stalling, stalling, stalling since the Good Friday peace agreement in an attempt to shift pressure to Sinn Fein and the disarmament deadline. Sadly Trimble and the UUP have not been honest brokers in the peace process and I question whether they even have intentions of sharing power with Irish nationalists."

Senator Edward Kennedy in a statement said he was "deeply disappointed by the failure of the parties to move forward with the peace process". The Good Friday agreement "offers the only realistic hope for lasting peace for the two communities. We cannot let it fail."

Republican Congressman Chris Smith said in a statement: "The willingness of David Trimble to gamble with the future of peace in Northern Ireland is mind-boggling." But the "Trimble gamble" need not affect the essence of the reforms of the Good Friday agreement. He cited the commissions on policing, equality and human rights and the criminal justice review unit.