Disposing of arms agreement's litmus test - Trimble

The decommissioning of weapons and explosives was an "obligation" on paramilitaries and the "litmus test" of the Belfast Agreement…

The decommissioning of weapons and explosives was an "obligation" on paramilitaries and the "litmus test" of the Belfast Agreement, the North's First Minister and Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, has said.

"There is no longer any justification, moral or political, for violence. There is no longer any need to hold on to the weapons of violence. Their decommissioning is not a precondition to progress under the agreement, it is an obligation and one that must be fulfilled before the representatives of violent organisations can take their seats at the table of democracy.

"This is the litmus test of the agreement and of those organisations from whom the fundamental issue of decommissioning is required. "The demand for peace does not just come from unionists, it comes from all sections of society. I believe that paramilitary organisations will not be able to resist the pressure from society for much longer.

"This is the final hurdle and one which, when overcome, will allow Northern Ireland to be at ease with itself and its neighbours," Mr Trimble said in Toronto, which he was visiting as part of an industrial promotion tour of North America.

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The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, who was visiting New York as part of an American tour, said the dismantling of partition was "possible" and the goal of Irish unity was "achievable".

Speaking in the Plaza Hotel, Mr Adams urged the Irish-American community to "have a sense of its own power and its ability to change US foreign policy and British government policy on Ireland. "The alternative to the Good Friday Agreement and the progress in the peace process is to let the bigots and the reactionaries win. This is unthinkable. "You can make a difference. Take a leap of imagination and realise that progress is possible, the dismantling of partition is possible and the goal of Irish unity is achievable. If we want it badly enough we can make it happen."

The Sinn Fein Assembly Member for North Belfast, Mr Gerry Kelly, has accused Mr Trimble of "riding roughshod" over the will of the people of Ireland.

"The people of Ireland spoke in the referenda in June when 82 per cent voted for the Good Friday Agreement. They voted for that agreement to be implemented in full.

"The unionist veto has been used many times before to prevent change and stop equality issues being addressed. There is a democratic imperative on the British and Irish governments to ensure that the democratically-expressed will of the people of Ireland is not suppressed by this latest attempt by a small unrepresentative group to play the politics of the past," Mr Kelly said in a statement issued in Belfast.