Political Events in Current Peace Process Crisis
Published: 1 September, 2003
Political Events in the Current Peace Process Crisis
* March 2002 UUP/Trimble escalate demands:
In March, Trimble began to escalate his demands on the IRA to disarm, totally beyond what is required by the Good Friday Agreement or reason, full knowing that there was no possibility they could be met. He did so in order to win concessions [essentially rollbacks from the GFA] from the British that he could then take credit for. Note that at the time the IRA was successfully cooperating with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning and had begun to put “weapons beyond use” in order to keep the peace process going and to encourage implementation of the GFA by the British government. Its military cessation still remains unbroken.
* September 2002 UUP/Trimble make calculated, impossible demands:
But by September 2002, IRA disarming was no longer enough. The Ulster Unionist Council [UUP]were now calling for the IRA to disband! No such demands were being made of Unionist/Loyalist paramilitary organizations in full military operation.
In addition, the UUC called for rollbacks in the already weak policing legislation -- insisting that the proposed 50/50 Protestant to Catholic recruiting ratio aimed at equalizing the 90% plus Protestant PSNI over time be scraped.
Trimble also announced they would immediately and illegally block SF from attending the GFA’s North/South cross-border bodies, and walk out of the devolved assembly on 18 January ‘03 unless all their demands were met.
* October 2002 Government Raids:
Almost immediately, the British government through its military/intelligence establishment saw the need to rescue Trimble from himself.
On 4 October, the Police Service Northern Ireland [PSNI] raided Sinn Fein’s Stormont assembly offices, with the media called out in advance to document the event. They also raided several homes finding an eclectic mix of documents and arrested several individuals including SF’s Stormont administrator. The very public, politically motivated Stormont raid accrued British intelligence and the PSNI nothing but bad publicity and a useless computer start up disc. But taken collectively, it was enough to accomplish what they wanted: to save Trimble and his UUP from further embarrassment for de facto destroying the Cross-border Bodies and putting an unavoidable drop dead date for the Assembly.
* Mid-October 2002 British Direct Rule -- power sharing assembly & institutions suspended:
By 14 October 2002, the British government took control of the Six Counties and suspended the devolved political bodies; and of course republicans were blamed by the press, primarily for spying of the British government -- of all things. [Note: the British bugged Gerry Adams’ car during the final days of the GFA negotiations and for over 30 years turned the Six Counties into the most surveilled statelet in the Western Europe.]
* March 2003 Assembly Elections Postponed:
In March of 2003, after almost a half year of political stagnation, the British government postponed the GFA mandated assembly elections, scheduled for 1 May 2003 by British statute, until 29 May 2003.
* May 2003 Elections Canceled Indefinitely:
On 1 May, the British government agreed to a request from UUP leader David Trimble to indefinitely cancel the re-scheduled 29 May elections. Political parties had already begun the process of nominating candidates and campaign planning.
Political leaders throughout the world, particularly in the US, condemn these actions as undemocratic in the extreme.
* April 2003 IRA Outreach; British/Irish “Joint Declaration”:
On 14 April 2003, the Irish Republican Army issued a positive statement to the British and Irish governments regarding its cessation of military operations and putting weapons beyond use in cooperation with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.
Earlier in April, the British and Irish governments announced a “Joint Declaration” of their plans for the reinstitution of the GFA, but they fail to make it public for weeks.
Dispite the Joint Declaration, the institutions remain suspended, elections uncalled, and GFA stagnates.
* Ongoing -- Loyalist Violence:
The one political constant throughout this period has been sustained violence against isolated nationalist communities coordinated by Unionist/Loyalist paramilitaries. This includes pipe and blast bombings, gun fire, and the raining down of fire bombs, bolts, bricks, and other potentially lethal missiles on people’s homes and streets in besieged Catholic neighborhoods, making it impossible for children to play or residents to have normal lives.
Unionist/Loyalist violence is tolerated by the British government, as evidenced by the complete lack of effectiveness of the PSNI to even marginally reduce it or make arrests. If it were not for political calculations, this highly effective and expensive security/military apparatus would do something to stop it. It does not.
* July 2003: Blair and Ahern Meet
British PM Toni Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern met in early July to discuss the stalled peace process. They still fail to set a date for the democratically mandated assembly elections.
Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said on 28 July ‘03, "At a time when we're talking about both the British and the United States building democracy in Iraq, we ask what is the reason for continued delay for having an election in Northern Ireland."
* Ongoing -- Political Stagnation & Direct Rule:
After months and months of periodic talks, reports and bluffs among the governments and years and years of UUP internal meetings and power plays, the situation is essentially unchanged over the past year of political stagnation and opportunities lost.
The Good Friday Agreement, singed on 10 April 1998, is still not being fully implemented by the British government. Four of the fourteen members of the Human Rights Commission have already resigned in frustration. Glaring areas of need include human/civil rights and policing.
The most important democratic, political aspect of the Agreement, the political institutions which include a devolved Assembly, are still suspended by the British Government.
The right to vote is a fundamental democratic right. Elections to the representative Assembly are still suspended indefinitely by order of the British government.
The Six Counties are now under British Direct Rule. In the almost five and one half years since the GFA was signed, the “power sharing” political institutions were in operation for less than two years due to UUP refusal to share power and British government lack of commitment to fulfill its promises.