INDEPTH: NORTHERN IRELAND
The Future
Gary Katz & Katie MacGuire, CBC News Online | Updated November 26, 2003
In April 1998, the Good Friday peace accord was signed. It was a tentative deal that included both the Ulster Unionists (Northern Irish who wish to remain allied with Britain) and Sinn Fein (the political wing of the IRA, Catholics who wish to rejoin Northern Ireland to Ireland.) The historic agreement provided for a new governing council, or executive, with Protestant and Catholic representation.
An historic agreement, to be sure, but the road to implementation proved to be bumpy.
To the Ulster Unionists, anything less from the IRA than unequivocal agreement to disarm was a statement in favour of continued terrorism. And though the IRA had accepted a cease-fire, they had not completely renounced violence.
The Ulster Unionists refused to sit with Sinn Fein until the IRA sent an unequivocal message that it would disarm. Sinn Fein would give no such assurances, and fears grew that the Good Friday accord would die and Northern Ireland would lapse back into the killing of neighbours and of neighbours' children.
To the IRA, without the defence budget of a major industrialized nation behind it, replacing weaponry is no small or inexpensive job and moving slowly toward giving up its leverage is a quite practical issue. And it's not as if the Irish Republican arsenal could be kept like a deposit by the British, to be returned if the deal doesn't work out.
The historic day finally arrived on the last Monday of November, 1999, when the 108 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly voted to form a coalition government, with an executive of Protestant and Catholic members. For the first time, Protestant Unionists and Catholic Republicans pledged to share power.
The deal worked out at the meeting of the Assembly in Belfast created an Executive made up of members from the four main political parties. The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), lead by David Trimble, would hold four seats on the Executive. Trimble also became the First Minister. The moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), contributed four Catholic members to the Executive, one of whom became the deputy First Minister. The hardline Protestant Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein each were given two seats on the Executive.
The Executive will take over the running of Northern Ireland's affairs, except for taxation and security matters. The British government officially transferred power to the Executive by the end of the week,
marking the first time since 1974 that the volatile British province experienced home-rule government.
Another historic event was expected in Dublin at the end of the week, when the Irish parliament would approve a constitutional amendment revoking its claim to the territory of Northern Ireland. This was regarded as an important step in convincing the majority of Protestants in Northern Ireland that they would not be forced into a union with the Republic without their approval.
The IRA and other paramilitaries agreed to appoint disarmament representatives to deal with the contentious issue of stockpiled weapons.
This was to be worked out between the IRA and General John de Chastelain,
a Canadian heading the disarmanent commission.
This "rescue package" was worked out at the 11th hour in talks mediated by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell. It allowed Trimble, the UUP leader and new First Minister, to buy time on final approval of the peace package despite the weapons issue. The UUP was promised final approval of the package at a party convention in February, 2000.
On Wednesday, December 1, 1999, in London, the Queen formally gave her seal of approval to a law ending 27 years of Britain's direct rule of Northern Ireland. She used only one word at the brief ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The Queen said, "Approved."
The power sharing agreement in the Good Friday Accord led to a multiparty, Protestant/Catholic government with the Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble as first minister. The Accord included provisions for disarmament - "decommissioning" - of arms by the various paramilitary groups on both sides.
Since the Accord, the Irish Republican Army's continuing refusal to comply with decommissioning has angered Protestants. And the Protestant sluggishness with addressing IRA concerns including reformation of the Protestant police force called the Royal Ulster Constabulary and reduction of British military presence has angered the IRA.
In February 2000, the British government intervened to broker a deal for decommissioning. In May 2000 the IRA agreed to begin decommissioning by the end of June 2001.
However IRA decommissioning did not take place by June 31, 2001. In response David Trimble resigned as first minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly. A six-week suspension of parliament gave negotiators some time to attempt to reach an agreement between the IRA and the assembly.
In August the IRA offered to begin the decommissioning process. The offer was refused by the Northern Ireland Assembly since it did not include a timetable for action.
Then suddenly, in October 2001, the IRA announced that it would put some of its weapons "beyond use," a move that was confirmed by de Chastelain's group of observors. Britain responded with a pledge to begin reducing its military presence in Northern Ireland.
With the ending of direct rule, much of the world hoped that the cycle of violence in Northern Ireland would end.
So far, there has been a continuation of the bumpy ride that has shaken the country since the 16th century.
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