(27 Apr 1998) English/Nat
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has called for the disbanding of Northern Ireland's police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Most of the officers in the R-U-C are Protestant - and the force is widely distrusted among Catholics and the Republican community.
The head of the I-R-A's political wing made the call after meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London for talks on the Good Friday peace deal.
It was Gerry Adams' first meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair since the Good Friday peace agreement.
That agreement opened the way for Protestant-Catholic power-sharing in the British province and set up a formal link with the Irish Republic.
Sinn Fein - which is allied with the I-R-A - is the only major party in Northern Ireland which has not yet taken a position on the April 10 agreement.
A significant number of Sinn Fein supporters are unhappy with the agreement, which stops far short of their goal of a united Ireland.
But despite his party's reservations, Adams said the talks had gone well describing them as positive and constructive.
Among the topics discussed was demilitarisation, the sectarian killings and the future of policing in Northern Ireland.
Adams want to see the existing police force scrapped - a move that would be bitterly opposed by Northern Ireland's majority Protestant community.
SOUNDBITE:
Undoubtedly there are changes going to be made in policing and what we want to see is a proper policing service and that means an end to the R-U-C (Royal Ulster Constabulary) and I know that may sound provocative both to members of the R-U-C, to their families and to the Unionists. But I mean people have to get real, their needs to be fundamental change right across the entire situation - that's what we're about, that's what we're trying to be a part of, the best type of change is managed change so those who have difficulties with this need to come together to work out their difficulties so that the change happens with the least disruption possible.
SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein Leader
The peace deal, which needs approval in a May 22 referendum, also provides a mechanism for the Irish Republican Army and pro-British Protestant-based groups to hand over arms.
Blair's predecessor, former Prime Minister John Major, tried but failed to get the I-R-A to hand over any weapons before Sinn Fein was admitted to peace talks.
The issue has remained sensitive among the Unionists.
But Adams says the I-R-A won't give up its weapons unless everyone in Northern Ireland - including the British Army - does the same.
SOUNDBITE:
"Well, we see decommissioning and the way that it has been put as an attempt to block progress. Those who want to keep the status quo raise this as a barrier, now we want to see all the guns taken out of Irish politics, we don't expect the British Army to disarm tomorrow morning, we don't expect the Loyalist groups to disarm, and I don't see how anyone could expect the I-R-A in that context to disarm either."
SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein Leader
Sinn Fein members have another couple of weeks before they decide whether or not to back the peace agreement.
SOUNDBITE:
"Many of them are of a view that there have been achievements made by the Sinn Fein leadership but they also have serious concerns about different aspects of the document. Now what is going to happen over the next few days people are going to make about all of that and they're going to come to conclusions and we, from a leadership point of view, are going to furnish the Sinn Fein membership with our proposals as to how we should move forward. "
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