Sinn Fein Demands N. Ireland Election Without Delay
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the poll had already been delayed twice to boost the standing of the "more pragmatic and progressive" elements within the Ulster Unionists (UUP), the province's main pro-British Protestant party.
"But things have only got worse within Unionism. Canceling the elections has done nothing to assist the process of sorting out the Ulster Unionists," the Catholic republican leader told Reuters in an interview.
On the eve of a new showdown between UUP leader David Trimble and internal party critics opposed to the direction the peace process is taking, Adams urged unionists to end their bickering.
"It's clear to anybody that if Unionists can't agree with themselves, they're not going to be able to agree with anybody else," he added.
"But they have to be told -- and told in a friendly way -- that this agreement is as good as it gets," he said, a reference to the landmark 1998 Good Friday peace accord, designed to end three decades of sectarian bloodshed.
The province's power-sharing assembly has been suspended for almost a year since the UUP threatened to quit following allegations of IRA spying on British ministers. In May, Blair told the IRA it had not done enough to renounce violence for a planned poll to go ahead but held out the prospect of elections this autumn.
But at a news conference on Thursday, Blair refused to commit himself to a set date for elections, although he said the province could not go on without them indefinitely.
Adams said he could not guarantee further IRA peace overtures -- in the form of a major act of disarmament -- after the group "was slapped in the face".
"Any possibility of the Sinn Fein leadership being able to assist in using whatever influence we have is removed from us in the absence of an election," he said. -----------Opposed to Monitoring Commission-----------
Adams also opposed a new independent commission set up by the British and Irish governments to monitor paramilitary cease-fires. "The governments have stepped outside the agreement and we are opposed to that," he said.
Although the IRA and its Protestant "loyalist" counterparts have been on cease-fire since the mid-1990s, they are regularly blamed for punishment attacks and other forms of intimidation.
Hopes that fresh impetus can be breathed into the flagging peace process were boosted by one of the most trouble-free summers since the so-called troubles began in 1969.
In past years, traditional Protestant marches in celebration of centuries-old battlefield victories over Catholics have sparked widespread rioting across the province.
Joint community efforts have been vital in calming tensions at key flashpoints, Adams said.
The recent discovery of the likely remains of a Protestant mother of 10 -- "disappeared" by the IRA for giving comfort to a dying British soldier in 1972 -- has thrown a harsh spotlight on the guerrilla group.
But the IRA has tried to make amends for past injustices by helping to locate secret burial sites, Adams said.
"It's very important that we use all our endeavors to try and find the remains of the dead so they can have Christian burials and their families’ graves to visit," he said.