Trimble appeal to IRA

Unionist leader Trimble has been lobbying in Washington

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- David Trimble has made an eleventh-hour call for the IRA to begin disarming to prevent the collapse of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.

The Ulster Unionist leader says if the Irish Republican Army does not move on the issue he will pull his party's three remaining ministers out of the executive when he returns from Washington on Wednesday.

If he carries out his threat, Northern Ireland would return to direct rule from London.

There have been reports that the IRA leadership is on the brink of an historic move on weapons, and the former First Minister said he hoped the rumours were true.

He said: "We have been here before, we heard forecast and speculation before and we have been disappointed.

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"I hope we are going to see a beginning to the process of decommissioning, I hope it's going to be a good beginning in order to build confidence for the future. People know what they should do so let them get on with it."

For months, speculation has persisted that the IRA could agree with disarmament officials to seal one or more of its hidden arms dumps with concrete.

The outlawed group has already allowed foreign diplomats to visit a few dumps in secret. These weapons are the first likely candidates for decommissioning as required in Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.

Trimble defined a significant start to putting weapons beyond use as being "actual decommissioning" verified by General John de Chastelain's international disarmament body.

The Ulster Unionist leader was on a four-day visit to Washington to gain support for his moves in Northern Ireland's fragile peace process.

Among those he met was Richard Haass, President George W. Bush's special advisor on Northern Ireland.

Also on Tuesday the leader of the Church of Ireland, Archbishop Robin Eames, said he expected the IRA to fulfill its disarmament pledges soon.

"I believe there are grounds for hope that movement towards decommissioning is imminent," Eames told a gathering of Anglican clergy in Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, southwest of Belfast, the Associated Press reported.

"If the IRA can match this demand, I believe it will unlock an entire process."

Trimble agreed in November 1999 to form a four-party government that included Sinn Fein, the nationalist party, on condition that IRA disarmament followed.

Since then Trimble has battled hard-liners, inside and outside his party, to keep the coalition intact while the IRA made little move on the issue.

Britain has stripped power from the executive three times -- first for an indefinite period in February 2000 when it appeared likely that Trimble would be ousted as a leader.

The Ulster Unionists resumed power-sharing after the IRA said it intended to begin putting its weapons "completely and verifiably beyond use." Following Trimble's July resignation as first minister, Britain has twice suspended power briefly in legal manoeuvres to keep the government going without a leader.