(17 Mar 1998) English/Nat
Key players in the Northern Ireland peace process spent St. Patrick's Day shuffling between Capitol Hill and the White House.
Throughout the day, President Clinton met four different delegations representing parties involved in the Ulster peace talks.
The president urged the key players to make tough compromises for peace, calling this "the chance of a lifetime."
When they weren't meeting the president or members of Congress, they were taking their case to the public, with speeches at the National Press Club.
At a morning news conference, Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble said despite the decision to accelerate negotiations, the peace process had suffered a loss of impetus over the past couple of months....in part due to recent violence.
And he added he was afraid that would affect the chances of an agreement by May 1.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"If we can't get things sorted before Easter, then we probably can't get them sorted before the summer. And we are concerned about the way in which the situation is decaying in terms of security -- the violence, shootings, bombings -- that if we go
into the summer without having serious political progress, we are very concerned about how that situation would develop."
SUPER CAPTION: David Trimble/Ulster Unionist Party
Trimble blamed that violence on the Irish Republican Army, the military organisation allied with the Sinn Fein political party.
He has repeatedly called for Sinn Fein to be permanently barred from the talks, but did not rule out negotiating with the party if it relinquishes all connections with the I-R-A.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Now, the best option from our point of view, obviously, would be for all of those who are engaged in violence to abandon violence and to involve themselves in the democratic process -- and I say that with regard to Sinn Fein, too. We would prefer to see them
evolving into a normal democratic political party, and were they to do so, we would deal with them on exactly the same basis as everybody else. That's the point that the comments I made at the outset about proportionality and all the rest of it. But what is not acceptable is to have them pretending to be a political party while still pursuing objectives by violent means."
SUPER CAPTION: David Trimble/Ulster Unionist Party Leader
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams disputes any claims that his party has been involved in terrorist attacks and insists he has long-called for an end to the violence.
At a meeting with Massachussets Senator Ted Kennedy and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, he said his party was ready to come to the table to discuss prospects for peace.
He claimed Trimble and his Unionist party were stalling the process by refusing dialogue with Sinn Fein.
Later, at a national press club news conference, Adams said Sinn Fein would continue its efforts in the peace process, but added all parties had to be involved for the multi- party talks to be successful.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The next few weeks will be dangerous they will be risky and in many ways I suppose without spinning it up too much some people might think we are facing in to most difficult part of the process. But Sinn Fein is in this process to make a democratic deal, Sinn Fein is in this process to buy in to that deal and Sinn Fein will persist with our own peace strategy and with our commitment to the process until that settlement culminates in a permanent and durable peace for all the people of the island of Ireland."
SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Adams/Sinn Fein
SOUNDBITE: (English)
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