British capitulated to pressure from UUP, says Adams

The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, has claimed that the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, has capitulated to unionist pressure rather than testing whether a new initiative from the IRA could overcome the decommissioning crisis.

Mr Adams said Sinn Fein would now engage in a period of reflection before deciding whether to participate in a review.

Mr Mandelson's decision to suspend the institutions had shaken confidence among nationalists and republicans in the approach of the British government to the political process and "confirmed perceptions among unionists that they have a veto", Mr Adams said on Saturday. He was speaking at a press conference in west Belfast following the meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council in the Waterfront Hall. He said the Northern Secretary succumbed to a "unionist threat" that Mr David Trimble would resign if the IRA did not meet unionist demands. "We are all in a very difficult situation as a result of Peter Mandelson's decision. His actions were driven by a unilateral unionist demand and deadline," added Mr Adams.

Throughout the past two weeks of intensive negotiations, Sinn Fein had sought to find a resolution to the arms issue "and to do that within a timeframe that would prevent the collapse of the institutions".

But this was made more difficult by the suspension threat and "by the general and orchestrated campaign by anti-republican elements to gang up on Sinn Fein". "Our failure to save the institutions is the failure of politics in this part of our country," he said.

He said that republicans and everyone else involved in the process must now engage in a period of reflection. He could not say at this stage whether Sinn Fein would participate in the review of the agreement, or whether the IRA would continue to co-operate with the de Chastelain commission.

The Sinn Fein MP for Mid-Ulster, Mr Martin McGuinness, accused Mr Trimble of lacking political courage. "He wasn't prepared to go with a positive de Chastelain report into the Waterfront Hall and fight for the Good Friday agreement," he said.

"That brings us back to the other debate as to whether or not the Good Friday agreement is being sacrificed on the altar of unionist division. There is going to have to come a time when leaders within the unionist political community will stand up against the rejectionists, to those people who would attempt to drag us back to the bad old days," added Mr McGuinness.

Mr Adams went into considerable detail in an effort to repudiate suggestions by Mr Mandelson that when he announced the suspension of the institutions on Friday evening, the Northern Secretary was unaware of the IRA initiative on decommissioning.

Early on Friday morning the Irish Government was made aware of the "major breakthrough" from the IRA, and this was subsequently passed on to the British government, said Mr Adams. Mr Adams said he spoke to the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, about this development, and in the afternoon he spoke to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and to Mr Mandelson.

At 2 p.m. on Friday, Mr McGuinness informed Mr Trimble of the new IRA position. Mr McGuinness also met the decommissioning body around this time, when the body was aware of the development. Mr Adams said that both he and Mr McGuinness were convinced that the second de Chastelain report "would be positive and was imminent".

"I spoke to Mr Mandelson around this time and on the basis of the new initiative I urged him not to collapse the institutions. It was obvious that he was intent on proceeding with suspension. I also spoke to Mr Trimble by telephone and asked him to withdraw his resignation on the basis of this new initiative. He told me it was not enough."

Mr Adams said that, contrary to what unionists were stating, there was clarity in the second de Chastelain report. "What could be clearer than a conclusion which says that the `commitment holds out the real prospect of an agreement which would enable it [the commission] to fulfil the substance of its mandate'?"

Mr Adams said that at 5.10 p.m. on Friday, he issued a statement saying there was an initiative capable of resolving the crisis, that a second report was imminent from Gen. de Chastelain and that he hoped this would be sufficient to forestall Mr Mandelson suspending the institutions.

During this period of shuttle diplomacy, Mr Adams said he was unaware that Mr Mandelson was planning to suspend the institutions by 6 p.m.

The second de Chastelain report, containing details of the new IRA position, was not released until after 9 p.m., but Mr Adams said that had the British government released it around teatime, "Mr Mandelson could not have suspended the institutions".

"Mr Mandelson was, however, working to another imperative and that was that Mr Cunningham, the president of the UUP, was going to deliver Mr Trimble's resignation and that the UUP was warning that this could only be prevented if an announcement of the suspension was on the 6 p.m. news," added Mr Adams.

"So, despite being aware of the IRA position, of Sinn Fein's view of it, and of the imminence of a positive de Chastelain report, Mr Mandelson proceeded with the suspension.

"Within the nationalist and republican community there is a deep sense of anger and frustration at the way in which the UUP has dictated events and effectively set aside the spirit of the Good Friday agreement. Mr Mandelson is in default of the agreement. Mr Trimble is in default of the agreement."

Mr Adams said that if the crisis were to be overcome, unionists must accept they were part of the problem, and that resolution did not lie solely with the republican movement. He said he had never heard unionists apologising for their part in creating the conflict.

He said the current impasse was not about arms but about unionist opposition to embracing change.