Word: feins
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...wake of the horrific terrorist attacks on America, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) is now encountering a more resolute, determined opposition. This past Saturday, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader David Trimble delivered an ultimatum to Sinn Fein, the IRA’s political wing. Trimble announced that unless the paramilitary group began “a credible process of decommissioning” its weapons in accordance with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the UUP would withdraw its three ministers from the executive and abandon Northern Ireland’s unstable alliance government...
Trimble said that the UUP would first propose a measure in the Stormont Assembly to ban Sinn Fein members from government. However, such exclusionary motions need to be supported by both a majority of unionists and a majority of nationalists. It is unlikely that the moderate, pro-independence Social Democratic Labor Party (SDLP) would join with unionists to oust Sinn Fein, especially with party leader John Hume planning to retire in November. Therefore, the UUP is set to leave the coalition if the IRA does not relinquish its weapons...
Trimble should be applauded for his resolute approach to the peace process. Although unionists have regularly made concessions to Sinn Fein and the IRA since the ’98 accord, these moves have not been reciprocated. The agreement mandated that all terrorist weapons had to be decommissioned by June 2001, yet the IRA has made no tangible moves towards fulfilling this obligation. Indeed, the organization rescinded its offer of a weapons handover this past August, contending that it was negotiating with General John de Chastelain’s Independent International Commission on Decommissioning. Unionists were understandably upset over...
...blame game over the stalled Northern Ireland peace process, the Ardoyne incident couldn't have come at a better time for the Sinn Fein. The most recent collapse of the institutions of Northern Ireland's self-government were widely blamed on the refusal of the IRA to begin decommissioning its weapons, and the recent capture by Colombian authorities of three alleged IRA men accused of training that country's leftist guerrillas had done little to improve the image of the Republican cause. The Ardoyne standoff, however, is a reminder of the communal hatreds that helped spawn today...
...Sinn Fein did well in the recent elections, both in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. They won more seats than they had before and out-polled the SDLP (Social Democratic and Labor Party) slightly. Their being intransigent on weapons hasn't hurt them politically, and as long as they don't use the weapons they can say they're doing enough under the agreement, while at the same time fracturing the Unionists. That's the optimistic view, the other is that this turns into another long slanging match...