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Threats to Peace ProcessThu, January 09, 2003Source: Ananova NewsRepublican leaders claim unionists are imposing unacceptable ultimatums on the IRARepublican leaders claim unionists are imposing unacceptable ultimatums on the IRA, as Gerry Adams prepares for fresh talks with Tony Blair. British military chiefs and loyalist paramilitary killers are currently being blamed by the IRA for putting the peace process in Northern Ireland under threat. A republican statement declared: "Pursuing an agenda dictated by those opposed to change obstructs the creation of the conditions necessary to building a lasting peace." Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams is preparing for a new round of talks with the Prime Minister at Downing Street. Mr Blair is also having talks with SDLP leader Mark Durkan in a bid to clear the way for the restoration of the power-sharing executive in Belfast. More discussions involving all the pro-Good Friday Agreement parties are scheduled for later this month, but there was no sign in the IRA New Year message of republicans yielding to unionist demands to empty their secret arms dumps and disband the organisation. The Provisionals insisted they were totally committed to the search for a just and lasting peace. But the peace process, they claimed, was under threat. A statement in the Sinn Fein newspaper An Phoblacht said: "This emanates from the British military establishment, its intelligence agencies and from the loyalist murder gangs." The British, they claimed, had not kept their commitments and unionist leaders had refused to embrace change. The statement added: "But both have tried to place the responsibility for the present crisis and its resolution on the IRA. They have sought to impose unacceptable and unrealistic ultimatums on the IRA." |
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