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| NEWSMAKER: GEORGE MITCHELL
AUGUST 4, 1997TRANSCRIPT |
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N. Ireland peace talks are scheduled to resume on 9/15/97. Sinn Fein is expected to be at the table, if the IRA continues to maintain its current ceasefire. A background report is followed by a Newsmaker interview with U.S. envoy George Mitchell.
MARGARET WARNER: Hopes for peace in Northern Ireland were given a boost two weeks ago when
A RealAudio version of this NewsHour segment is available.
NEWSHOUR LINKS:
August 4, 1997:
A Newsmaker interview with George Mitchell on Northern Ireland peace talks.
July 21, 1997:
A panel discussion of an Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire announced on Saturday, July 19.
March 17, 1997:
The Greening of the White House: an Online NewsHour forum investigates U.S. - Northern Ireland relations.
July 15, 1996:
A tradition of trouble: riots continue in Northern Ireland.
July 12, 1996:
A tradition of trouble:The Orange Day Parade sparks violence.
June 14, 1996:
Is peace possible? Two Irish reporters participate in an Online forum.
OUTSIDE LINKS:
The Irish Times on the Web.
The Belfast Telegraph on the Web.
the Irish Republican Army announced a new cease-fire in its paramilitary campaign against British rule. The cease-fire meant that for the first time, the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, could finally join the Northern Ireland peace talks being sponsored by the British and Irish governments.
What broke the logjam was the British Government's decision to accept a proposal from former U.S.
Senator George Mitchell, who is chairing the talks. Mitchell proposed nearly 20 months ago that rather than insist the Ira disarm before political talks got underway, the sponsors hold parallel talks on disarming once talks got underway. The next hurdle after the IRA announcement was to persuade the Protestant, or Unionist Parties, who want to maintain Northern Ireland as part of Britain, not to walk away from the talks.
The day after the IRA's decision, British Prime Minister Tony Blair met at 10 Downing Street with David Trimble, leader of Northern Ireland's biggest Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists. Trimble warned that the most important test of the IRA's intentions was still the IRA's willingness to disarm.
DAVID TRIMBLE, Leader, Ulster Unionists: (July 21) There are some possibilities of progress. I think that's the best I can put it at the moment, possibilities. But the matter is not yet clear, not yet been clarified, and the prime minister is going to make further explorations of the issues to see what can be done.
MARGARET WARNER: But after that same meeting, Mo Mowlam, Britain's new Secretary for Northern Ireland, made it clear that the new prime minister was determined not to let the controversy over disarmament derail this new chance at peace.
MOW MOWLAM, Secretary of State, Northern Ireland: After the cease-fire what is so important to so many people in Northern Ireland is that we do manage to move the talk process forward. And we made it very clear that central to our thinking was consent.
MARGARET WARNER: A few days later, Trimble announced that despite the disarmament controversy, his Ulster Unionist Party would remain at the table when the talks resume in September--this time, with Sinn Fein at the table too. This was great news for the peace efforts of George Mitchell, who has been involved in Northern Ireland affairs virtually since the day he left the U.S. Senate at the end of 1994. In January 1995, shortly after the IRA announced an earlier cease-fire, Mitchell was appointed by President Clinton as an adviser on economic development in Ireland.
Hopes were high at the time. The IRA had announced a cease-fire in 1994, and President Clinton hoped the U.S. could take an active role in bringing about a peace settlement. In March 1995, the President welcomed Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to the White House to demonstrate the U.S. commitment. In November of 1995, the President, himself, traveled to Northern Ireland and urged enthusiastic crowds of Protestants and Catholics to work hard for peace, but hopes for real talks were foundering over the disarmament issue.
That same month--November 1995--the British and Irish governments asked Mitchell to head an International Commission on Disarmament in Northern Ireland in hopes of coming up with some way to overcome that obstacle to talks. In January of 1996, Mitchell's Commission issued its report. Its conclusion was drop disarmament as a precondition; separate the issue from the main political negotiations; and pursue the two agendas in separate talks.
Mitchell's report languished, when the British government of then-Prime Minister John Major wouldn't
accept the recommendations. The following month, the IRA abandoned its cease-fire, claiming responsibility for setting off a bomb in London's Canary Wharf. The attack killed two and wounded dozens of others. Since then, nine more people have died in political violence in Northern Ireland, bringing the total killed to more than 3,000, since British troops were deployed there in 1969. In may of 1996, the British and Irish Governments called on Mitchell again, appointing him the independent chairman of the Northern Ireland peace talks.
The talks convened under Mitchell's chairmanship, but without representation from the IRA or Sinn Fein, little progress has been reported. Now, the talks are set to resume September 15th with Sinn Fein, but only if the IRA maintains the promised cease-fire until then. Last Friday, acting on a tip, the British army located and safely detonated a large car bomb found outside a lakeside hotel southwest of Belfast. No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb.
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