(22 Jul 1999) English/Nat
The key antagonists in the deadlock over forming Northern Ireland's Protestant-Catholic government met British Prime Minister Tony Blair separately on Thursday and neither ceded any ground.
Gerry Adams, leader of the I-R-A-allied Sinn Fein party, accused the province's largest Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, of continuing to ride roughshod over last year's peace agreement.
And Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble did not budge from his insistence that his party would not take part in any Cabinet that includes Sinn Fein until the Irish Republican Army (I-R-A) starts to disarm.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and chief negotiator Martin McGuinness arrived for talks at Number 10 Downing Street on Thursday.
Prior to the talks, Martin Ferris member of the Sinn Fein delegation accused Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and the British Government of failing to set up the proposed executive of the past few weeks.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Nationalists people are angry, they are frustrated, they are disenchanted with the events over the last number of weeks. The failure of David Trimble, the British Government to set up the executive."
SUPER CAPTION: Martin Ferris, Member of Sinn Fein Delegation
Trimble said the difficulties in implementing the peace accord had been underscored by an I-R-A statement issued on Wednesday.
The statement, which came on the heels of the second anniversary of the I-R-A's latest ceasefire, noted that the outlawed group's previous truce ended in 1996 on the demand for an I-R-A surrender.
It blamed the British government for the failure to deliver tangible progress in implementing the accord.
While generally praising Blair's efforts to propel the peace process forward, Adams criticised both the Ulster Unionists and the British government.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"All of this has to be not about commitment and not about the relationships people have built up, political or otherwise over the lengthy meetings that have gone and it's about results. Results count and if people don't have justice, if people don't have rights, of what they should have anyway, non-negotiable issues and if an agreement has been torn to shreds by rejectionist unionism and if the pathway to peace has been built by rejectionist unionism then that is what counts. Not commitments of Prime Ministers or even of party leaders."
SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein Leader
After the parties in Northern Ireland missed a third deadline for forming their coalition Cabinet last week, Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern persuaded former U-S Senator George Mitchell, the architect of the 1988 accord, to step back in.
Mitchell hopes to break the deadlock with what Blair calls a review of the accord, which will begin on September 6th.
Mitchell said he would wrap up his review promptly, but set no deadline and provided no further details, except to say he would not allow a renegotiation of the agreement's terms.
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