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Sunday, December 03, 2000, updated at 17:26(GMT+8)
World  

Trimble Appeal for Clinton Support

Northern Ireland's First Minister David Trimble appealed December 2 to US President Bill Clinton to put pressure on republicans to start decommissioning weapons when he visits the province later this month.

Speaking in a radio interview broadcast in the US, before the first anniversary of Northern Ireland devolution on Saturday, Trimble warned that the political process could break down without movement on the arms issue.

"Irish republicans owe Bill Clinton big-time and I think it's time for President Clinton to call in with Irish republicans the debts they owe him," the Ulster Unionist leader said.

"I hope between now and President Clinton's arrival that the US administration will exercise its influence with Irish republicans to say to them: Keep your promise, initiate that process, put your weapons beyond use as you promised on May 6 that you would," he added.

"If that happens of course, then this peace process will succeed and if it doesn't happen then there's a very real prospect this process will fail," he noted.

Trimble and his party returned to Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive in June after the British and Irish governments put together a package for progressing the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, based on an offer by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to begin working towards putting its weapons completely and verifiably beyond use.

The Ulster Unionists feel republicans are threatening the process by failing to deliver paramilitary weapons decommissioning, and are imposing sanctions on Sinn Fein, by withholding authority to attend meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council.

However, Sinn Fein feels that the government has not delivered on its commitments on demilitarization.







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Northern Ireland's First Minister David Trimble appealed December 2 to US President Bill Clinton to put pressure on republicans to start decommissioning weapons when he visits the province later this month.

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