The Agreement The Referendum The Troubles Highlights Who's Who What Next? Analysis Timeline Paramilitaries

September 21, 1999
Web posted at: 10:36 p.m. EDT (0236 GMT)

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- American mediator George Mitchell on Tuesday convened the first face-to-face meeting in three months between Protestant and Catholic leaders in discussions that are seen as crucial to the survival of the Belfast peace agreement.

There was no report of immediate progress, leading officials to speculate that additional talks would be likely.

Tuesday's two-hour session involved the Protestants of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and Catholics of Sinn Fein. The province's First Minister-designate, Protestant leader David Trimble and Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams have so far failed to agree on issues central to any lasting settlement

Those include the creation of a coalition provincial government and guerrilla disarmament.

Mitchell's spokesman downplayed prospects of an early breakthrough in the latest round of talks -- initiated by the British and Irish governments.

"He will be exploring where they differ on the various aspects of the implementation of the agreement and exploring any areas where progress might be made," said Mitchell's aide.

Adams, an alleged former IRA commander said the Ulster Unionists didn't appear "to have the will to implement what they agreed to." Adams insisted he had done everything possible to achieve IRA disarmament, but that Trimble had not.

Trimble countered by blasting IRA guerrillas. He cited a recent increase in violence, murders and attempted arms smuggling -- all of which have jeopardized the accord.

Despite Sinn Fein's pledge to support peace and democracy, total disarmament and an unequivocal cease-fire, "they have not yet honored any one of those commitments. It is time they did," said Trimble.

Trimble stressed that he would accept the IRA-linked Sinn Fein as colleagues in a proposed four-party Cabinet, but only if the Irish Republican Army began to disarm simultaneously.

"Of course, if they show they are committed to peaceful means and they honor the undertakings they gave under the agreement, there's still the prospect of people jumping together but it's time to start to deliver," said Trimble, the designated leader of the new government.

Sinn Fein insisted it was working toward disarmament, but cannot compel the IRA to surrender its weapons. It accused the unionists of blocking the accord's implementation at every turn.

Adams said that even if the agreement failed, he expected the British and Irish governments to move ahead with major reforms in Northern Ireland.

If the proposed 12-member Cabinet is formed, four posts each will be filled by the Ulster Unionists and the moderate Social Democratic and Labor Party, Northern Ireland's major Catholic-supported party. Sinn Fein and the hard-line Protestants of the Democratic Unionist Party each would have two seats.

Cabinet powers would be reinstated gradually by the British government for the first time since 1972, when it abolished an Ulster Unionist-dominated parliament and assumed direct rule of the province.

Unionists favor British rule and Sinn Fein republicans, who want the partitioned island unified as one state, failed to reach consensus when the British and Irish prime ministers held talks with them in April and July.

The Good Friday accord followed cease-fires by the IRA and Protestant extremists loyal to Britain. Provisions called for new political institutions that would take account of the conflicting allegiances of the province's majority Protestants and its pro-Irish Catholic minority.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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