BELFAST - Republicans and nationalists reacted with anger yesterday to the new, tougher attitude adopted by Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble at the weekend to secure victory at his party's ruling council meeting.
Both Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party made it clear they would strongly resist his threat to bar Sinn Fein ministers from attending meetings with their Irish Government counterparts. The Dublin Government also expressed concern at the move.
While there was relief that Trimble had survived the latest challenge by the anti-Good Friday Agreement faction, headed by Jeffrey Donaldson, MP, there was general nationalist dismay that he had stolen some of Donaldson's clothes.
The universal expectation is that a fresh crisis, judged by some to be potentially fatal to the agreement, will arise when Trimble returns to the council in January.
Although Trimble turned down Donaldson's demand for an explicit ultimatum that his party would withdraw from the Northern Ireland Government in the absence of IRA arms decommissioning, January looks set to become an effective deadline.
Donaldson said yesterday: "The clock is now ticking. If the IRA don't decommission by January, we will be back. I believe at that stage there will be a move to exclude Sinn Fein from the executive."
Seamus Mallon, of the SDLP, who as Deputy First Minister is No 2 to Trimble in the Belfast Administration, reacted sharply to the tougher Unionist attitude.
Saying that the moves were unacceptable and in possible legal breach of the agreement, he declared: "The way in which the decision has been reported suggests to me that this is deliberate provocation to nationalists and republicans."
The weekend developments seem to have worsened relations within the Coalition Government and may guarantee a few difficult months ahead.
The hopes of supporters of the agreement for a relatively quiet period in which the Administration might bed down and provide practical examples of the advantages of devolution appear to be dashed.
Sinn Fein leaders were in contact with London, Dublin and Washington to register their protests against Trimble's approach, which Gerry Adams described as "stupid and unattainable" demands.
- INDEPENDENT
Trimble threat irks Sinn Fein
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