Collective efforts to find a lasting settlement
* Ireland
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams outlines his party's strategy over the last 18 months, and the obstacles which have been placed in its way
THE LAST THREE YEARS HAVE BEEN MARKED by significant advances in our collective efforts to find a lasting political settlement which would allow us to leave the conflict and divisions of the past behind us. Political dialogue has been at the core of these efforts and political dialogue must be at the core of these efforts and political dialogue must be at the core of any new agreed political arrangement among the Irish people. Over the last three years there has also been frustration and anxiety as obstacles have been erected, primarily by the British
Government, obstacles which have delayed the process and created a variety and intensity of crises: obstacles which, as Dick
Spring has said, threaten to
"dissipate the momentum" for peace.
That frustration is presently at its most intense, as the result of the
British Government's refusal, after 16 months of an IRA cessation, to allow allparty peace talks to begin. The British
Government still sees the peace process as a device by which it can achieve the political objectives which they failed to achieve militarily in 25 years of bloody conflict.
This is contrary to the spirit of a process which seeks to be inclusive and requires the building of confidence and trust to a point where our common responsibility guarantees a positive outcome to the peace processes.
Underpinning this critical objective is the essential need for all sides to accept the respective democratic credentials of the others, and to move to all-party talks where an agreement can be forged. Democratic dialogue and negotiations are the litmus test
— it is the only way of a viable peace process
14 International Viewpoint #277 to achieve an agreed political settlement and therefore a lasting peace. 16 months ago the IRA cessation transformed the political climate, creating the best opportunity since Partition to resolve the conflict in Ireland. It would be criminal if this opportunity were squandered by a British Government putting itself in hock to nine Ulster Unionist Party MPs. The Irish peace process does not belong to the British Government. In fact, it was the efforts of nationalist Ireland which brought about the present opportunity for peace.
In the development of the Irish peace process, the most important discussions were clearly those with John Hume, out of which a set of core political principles were agreed as the basis for a proposal to move us out of conflict and towards negotiated settlement. The Hume/Adams proposals outlined a number of basic principles, a process and a dynamic which we each agreed could create the conditions for a complete cessation of violence and the establishment of lasting peace in Ireland. The Hume/Adams proposals, which became known, generally, as the Irish Peace Initiative, galvanised Irish national opinion North and South and focused the two governments on the issue of peace in Ireland, in a manner unparalleled since the mid-eighties.
The Irish Peace Initiative of 1993 was based on the reality that there can be no internal settlement within the Six-Counties, that any settlement must be based on the right of the Irish people to national self-determination and, crucially, that a new and lasting agreement could only be achieved through all-party peace talks led by both governments. This initiative prompted the IRA to state that, if the political will existed. or could be created, the initiative "could provide the basis for peace." The Downing Street Declaration emerged against that background in December 1993. In the Declaration, the British Government certainly addressed some of the elements essential to the construction of an effective peace process in a way which it had not previously done. In particular the two governments committed themselves to all-party talks as the means to a new political agreement among the Irish people. The subsequent clarification provided to Sinn Féin by the British and Irish governments reiterated this point and helped to move the developing peace process a step further. Sinn Féin pointed out that the dynamic necessary to move us all out of conflict could not lie in a public declaration alone. This dynamic had to be found in the principles, framework, time scale, procedures and objectives of a peace process and particularly in negotiation - in all-party peace talks.
Through dialogue between the Irish Government, the SDLP, Sinn Féin and key elements of Irish-America, a consensus of views and opinions was developed across a number of key political areas fundamental to the resolution of the conflict in Ireland on the basis of democratic principles. Key to this was the agreement that inclusive negotiations among the democratically mandated parties and led by both governments was the only means to secure an agreed and democratic
Rest of world US$ 70 O settlement.
The need also to address a number of areas of immediate and practical concern to Northern nationalists, including parity of esteem, equality of treatment and equality of opportunity was recognised. The commonalty of view on the core democratic positions coupled with a commitment to put these into effect, represented an unprecedented focus by nationalist and democratic opinion in Ireland and abroad, on the resolution of the conflict and on the way to achieve this.
It was the efforts of nationalist Ireland which created the peace process and brought about the enormous opportunity which we now have. The Sinn Féin peace strategy, the Hume/Adams dialogue, the Irish Peace Initiative and the IRA cessation generated a new political climate in which, for the first time since Partition, there was a real prospect of a negotiated settlement and a lasting peace. The peace talks necessary to realise this potential have, however, not yet begun. The entire logic of a peace process is that rough substantive all-party peace talks we arrive at a peace settlement which removes the causes of the conflict and takes the guns, forever, from Irish politics.
All-party peace talks should be initiated as a matter of urgency and within an agreed time frame. The nature and structure of those talks should ensure the efficient and urgent examination of all of those issues required to move the process forward. The three broad areas which need to be addressed are: • political and constitutional change; •democratisation;
The forum for dealing with all of these issues is of course inclusive and comprehensive negotiations. All-party peace talks should therefore commence without further delay.
For years we were told that the IRA was the problem, the block on process, that the British could not move because of the IRA, but that in the context of an IRA cessation a negotiated political settlement which addressed and resolved the causes of division and conflict was possible. The IRA cessation created the space for the new approach which, it had been argued, could more effectively deal with the causes of conflict and division. We are now almost 16 months into the IRA cessation but we do not yet have peace. We do not even have peace talks. On the contrary we have the British telling us that the old agenda remains intact: exclusion of Sinn Féin, discrimination against our electorate and the precondition of an IRA surrender. This not only denies Sinn Féin and our voters the right to negotiate the future of our Ireland, but denies that right to the rest of the Irish people also...
Britain is now reneging on its commitment. The British government is clearly acting in bad faith. The reality is that the British do not want peace talks. They are afraid of peace talks because peace talks... require change. Political, constitutional, economic, cultural and legal change. Real peace talks demand that the British address the whole range of issues which they have failed to address up to now. Peace talks demand action to address the failure of past and present political structures; action to redress the injustice of Partition; action to reverse the apartheid, the discrimination and the inequality at the heart of the Six-County
Ireland * effective action to make equality of treatment and parity of esteem a reality, real political movement to create new political structures agreed among and acceptable to all the Irish people.
A peaceful strategy for change, for achieving democracy and justice has to deal directly and effectively with the realities of injustice and inequality. It cannot be dependent on the willingness of the British to change. The British cannot be allowed to sit on their hands. The British have no right to squander the present, unprecedented opportunity for a negotiated settlement. Their inaction and negativity demand positive and effective action from those who seek a negotiated settlement in Ireland. The peace process does not belong to the British Government. It belongs to the Irish people. It is the responsibility of the political representatives of all the Irish people to move the situation forward - even in the face of British negativity.
There is a historic responsibility on the Dublin Government to take the initiative and to present the British Government with the Irish democratic position and to persuade John Major to play his full part in developing the Irish peace process into a negotiated political settlement: a new Irish and Anglo-Irish dispensation for the new millennium.
early December 1995 the two governments launched the "twin track" approach with the declared aim of reaching all-party peace talks by the end of February 1996. Despite the fact that this twin track approach was no part of the discussion and negotiations which preceded the IRA cessation, Sinn Féin declared our willingness to engage positively in this approach, on the basis that it would remove the preconditions
• demilitarisation.
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International Viewpoint #277 15
25
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negotiations phase of the peace process. As the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), John Bruton, pointed out, the twin track approach would be a waste of time if it failed to remove preconditions to all-party dialogue. The International Commission headed by George Mitchell has already completed much of its work on the arms issue. The two governments need now to match the energy and urgency of the international body and move speedily to prepare the ground for the commencement of all-party talks. There is absolutely no reason why inclusive negotiations cannot commence immediately among parties with an electoral mandate.
Given the urgency of this situation, it is essential that peace talks commence as soon as possible. The delays and stalling have already destablised the peace process unnecessarily. It is now time for a full engagement on all sides. It is of course the democratic right of any party to refuse to attend if they so wish. But such a refusal to engage in democratic negotiations cannot be turned into a veto which denies the rest of the political parties the right to commence the dialogue. Such a veto is clearly undemocratic.
The old order has failed. It sought to divide and oppress our people. Our diversity, which should have been a source of joy and strength, was, instead, manipulated and used to perpetuate and entrench injustice and discrimination. The imperative of peace demands that we move beyond this phase of the peace process. Peace can only come 16 International Viewpoint #277 about when the causes of conflict are addressed. In the context of the Anglo-Trish situation peace can only be achieved through a political solution. And this can only be found through inclusive all-party talks. When we embarked upon our peace strategy more than eight years ago, Sinn Féin's objective was an ambitious one: to resolve a conflict which is rooted in centuries of division and mistrust. No one was of the opinion that this would be achieved without difficulty. With the development of the peace process comes the responsibility of participation. We all have to play our full role in moving the peace process forward. To achieve that essential element requires collective partnership which seeks to uplift and consolidate and plan the management of the negotiating process to a successful conclusion. Peace cannot be built unilaterally. The refusal of the British Government and the Unionist parties to engage positively in the peace process undermines its potential to remove the causes of conflict and, logically, if the causes of conflict remain then there cannet be a lasting peace.
The British Government and the Unionist parties should stop making excuses for not talking and start making peace. Sinn Féin has repeatedly demonstrated our commitment and our determination to take risks to advance the peace process. We have brought the full extent of our influence within the republican constituency to bear in creating and sustaining for 16 months this opportunity. The question now is whether the others are prepared to move beyond the failed policies of the past. * Reprinted from The Irish Reporter, n° 21. An independent quarterly. Ireland/British subscriptions £14, Europe £16, world £25/$40. PO Box 3195 Dublin 6. 0 +353 l 473 0599, e-mail JohnDaly@iol.ec
Networking
The editor's selection of Internet news and addresses. British base details on WWW Sinn Fein have described as "nonsense" reports that the Party has launched secret information about British military installations onto its Internet web site. The Times recently alleged that "a terrorists" crib sheet giving detailed information about MI5 installations and military bases in Northern Ireland, together with RUC stations, has been posted on the Internet. Police are studying the entry placed by Sinn Fein supporters on a site run from within an American university. In Britain the information could contravene the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Emergency Powers Act and the Official Secrets Act, but police are powerless to act. Anti-terrorist officers in Londonare concerned at the detail and breadth of the material, as well as its propaganda value. The site also includes fundraising appeals." According to Sinn Fein, "The document referred to is The British Military Garrison in Ireland, first published by Sinn Fein in September 1994 and distributed widely in Ireland and abroad. All the material contained in this document was in the public domain for some time prior to its publication. The purpose of publishing it was to inform the general public of the nature of Britain's military involvement in Ireland following the IRA's cessation in August 1994 and was widely covered in the media. The stories emanating from London and quoting unnamed 'security sources' are a deliberate attempt to mislead and misinform. A visit to our web site will clearly show that Sinn Fein uses the Internet to put forward our policies on a wide range of issues and to highlight Britain's continued interference in Ireland." For more information http:www.serve.com/rm/sinnfein
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