Peace process in crisis, party chairman tells Belfast gathering

More than 1,000 people gathered at the republican plot in west Belfast's Mill town cemetery yesterday to hear the Sinn Fein chairman…

More than 1,000 people gathered at the republican plot in west Belfast's Mill town cemetery yesterday to hear the Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchell McLaughlin, speak of a "peace process in crisis".

"The agreement is clearly in crisis. Another deadline has passed this week and the peace process remains in considerable doubt," Mr McLaughlin said.

In reality, there had been no agreement last week, but only a paper agreed between the two governments, he claimed. "Yes, good work was done, but the political institutions are still blocked and the agreement stalled, and it will, in my opinion, take a huge effort to shift it."

He insisted that the fact that decommissioning was not a precondition in the Belfast Agreement had not changed.

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"In the agreement, the position on decommissioning is unequivocal. All the parties have to use their influence to secure it and Sinn Fein will continue to honour its obligation to do so. But it must not be a precondition. We cannot deliver on the unionist demand to decommission no matter in what way it is presented," he added.

Mr McLaughlin accused the Ulster Unionist Party of "losing their nerve" over the implementation of the deal.

"The process is stalled and rather than write articles that give the wrong impression people would be better reconvening the talks to resolve this problem," he said.

According to Mr McLaughlin, the only way forward was to move into a "coalition government", which would represent a "unique experiment" of creating a government which served unionist, nationalist and republican voters.

The Sinn Fein chairman also restated the party's goal of a united Ireland. "The goal of a united Ireland is achievable. It is a just and democratic goal. But those who gave us Omagh have no role in that struggle," Mr McLaughlin said in reference to republican dissidents.