Blair's pledge for fresh NI talks

Trimble says he will quit on Sunday

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The UK Government has said fresh talks are to be held next week to rescue the Northern Ireland peace process.

But it conceded that it is likely the talks will not involve Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble who says he will quit on Sunday.

Trimble, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, has threatened to quit as First Minister if there is not enough movement by the IRA on decommissioning of weapons -- one of the main pillars of the Good Friday Agreement.

After a day of talks on Thursday, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair announced plans for a fresh push to stabilise the peace process next week.

Blair and the Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern said that a new bid to break the deadlock will be held followed by further intense discussions.

Blair said: "The outstanding issues are still there. They have to be dealt with. There is no other solution than to sitting down and working out the problems that remain in order that they are dealt with so that every single aspect of the Good Friday Agreement is implemented.

"The recent election results in Northern Ireland show that people actually support the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.

"But they want the agreement in all of its aspects to be implemented and they want to know that we will have a government in Northern Ireland, based in Northern Ireland, representative of all of the communities in Northern Ireland dedicated to a peaceful and democratic process for resolving any differences that there are."

He refused to contemplate suspending the Northern Ireland political institutions in the wake of Trimble's threatened resignation.

In a direct appeal to the IRA on the weapons issue, he said: "It is absolutely essential if we are to have a stable process in Northern Ireland that weapons are put beyond use, that there is a commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means"

Earlier in the day, Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid, who will chair next week's talks, said Trimble had stuck his neck out in the belief that the IRA would disarm.

He said: "I actually think it will be done. I believe that David Trimble believes that it could be done and he has stuck his neck out in taking a risk.

"It hasn't been done as quickly or as substantially as David believes.

"I am only going on what he says and he says that it has to be brought to a head.

"But let me just say this: I believe if there was a substantial and significant move forward on the putting of weapons beyond use by the IRA it would be welcomed by the whole community -- not just by unionists."

Blair and Ahern held talks with Trimble, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and SDLP leader John Hume, as well as General John de Chastelain, head of the disarmament commission which is expected to produce a new report before the weekend.

It is likely to confirm ongoing dialogue with the IRA as well as holding out hopes that republican guns will be put beyond use at some stage in the future.

As Sinn Fein's delegation arrived at Hillsborough Castle for talks, party leader Adams said republicans were not posing any threat to the future of the peace process.

He said: "The threat to this process does not come from republicans when you consider that the IRA cessation has now been sustained for seven years and if you compare that to the real threat to the process from the First Minister (David Trimble), and his pending resignation, from the daily events on the streets of North Belfast and in Portadown and Coleraine and in other parts where the loyalists on a daily basis are using guns and bombs.

"So we are glad to see the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister. We have been in contact with them through the elections and at various points and really it's make your mind up time for the British Government.

"It's make your mind up time for the two governments. It's whether they are prepared to continue with this process over David Trimble when people's rights and entitlements on a whole range of issues are traded off or whether they go back to the template of the Good Friday Agreement and make progress on that basis."

The Good Friday agreement is the 1998 peace accord that brought power sharing and a sharp reduction in sectarian violence between the pro-British Protestants and Catholics seeking unification with Ireland.

Since the agreement was signed the IRA has twice opened some arms dumps to observers to certify that they were not being used, but Protestant unionists say this is not enough.