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| SENATOR GEORGE MITCHELL | |
 November 19, 1999  |
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This week, the leaders of pro-British and Pro-Irish groups announced a willingness to form a new government after weeks of negotiation. After a background report, the chairman of those talks, former Sen. George Mitchell, discusses the deal that has given new life to the Good Friday Accord.
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RAY SUAREZ: And Senator Mitchell joins us now. Welcome to the program. GEORGE MITCHELL, Northern Ireland Peace Mediator: Thank you very much. |
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| The decision to move ahead | ||||||||||||||||||||
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RAY SUAREZ: Well, people who watch this story, I guess, have gotten used to this rhythm and 11th hour talks, things on the verge of unraveling, and then George Mitchell flies to the rescue. What had to happen this time to keep the peace process alive?
RAY SUAREZ: One trigger date comes very quickly, November 27th, a vote of an 800-member ruling assembly to back David Trimble's decision to allow Sinn Fein into the government. Again, we could be on the knife edge here. GEORGE MITCHELL: That's right. It's a very courageous thing that David Trimble has done. His community is divided, his party is divided. It's quite clear that without him this process would not have even reached this point, indeed there would not have been a Good Friday Agreement. I don't know what the outcome will be, but I hope that he does prevail because I believe that this is the only way forward in that society. And while there are clearly reservations on both sides, there is severe political pain involved for all of those that are moving forward, I do hope that he prevails and that process that we've laid out does, in fact, occur in the coming weeks.
GEORGE MITCHELL: Well, there's been an improvement. I wouldn't call it trust yet, though. I think it's a significant step forward. You have to recall that until recently they had never spoken. When we reached agreement on Good Friday of 1998, they had not yet spoken directly. They have since spoken, but the words were harsh and filled with recrimination in the early weeks of this review, it was a tough process to get through. And finally I decided to change the location, change the circumstances, change the manner of meeting in an effort to encourage the kind of direct and serious negotiation that I thought would be necessary to reach this point. And so they have, I think, had a dramatic change in the level and quality of their discussions. But I think it's probably overstating it to say that they completely now trust each other. I think that may be down the road, but they're moving in the right direction. |
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| Trimble's gamble | ||||||||||||||||||||
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GEORGE MITCHELL: I think it's a big step for all concerned. The fact is that Sinn Fein made a very positive and forthcoming statement early this week in which it said for the first time it acknowledged that decommissioning is an essential part of the peace process and expressed its belief that the issue of arms would be satisfactorily resolved under the aegis of the independent international commission headed by the retired Canadian general, John de Chastelain. That was a huge step for them. The IRA then made a statement stating that it will appoint an authorized representative to meet and talk with General Chastelain and his colleagues. So, I think you have to look at it as a balanced approach in which both sides are being criticized by some for having gone too far. RAY SUAREZ: Well, on Mr. Trimble's flank, he has got members of his own party in the Westminster parliament and in the assembly in Belfast and Stormont itself saying "here we go, IRA will make these assurances and then not give back any weapons."
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| Putting the agreement together by May 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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RAY SUAREZ: We're in the last couple of weeks of 1999. May 2000 is another trigger date. It's the date by which the IRA and its political representatives have agreed that decommissioning if it happens, will be complete. Seems pretty close. Is it that important to get it all done by May 2000? GEORGE MITCHELL: Well, I think all of the requirements to the Good Friday Agreement should be in place by May 2000, including decommissioning. Unfortunately, this discussion, and most of the press discussion in the past couple of weeks have focused exclusively on decommissioning. In reality, it's one of many important issues. The devolution of authority to the parliaments to the Northern Ireland assembly is critical. The establishment of the executive for that assembly is critical. The establishment of the other institutions called for in the Good Friday Agreement, a north-south ministerial council and bodies to implement the decisions taken there to encourage cooperation for the mutual benefit of North and South; the creation of a new British-Irish council; the establishment of a new British-Irish agreement; numerous other reform measures. This is a whole package. And I think it creates an unfortunate distortion, perhaps unintended, of what is involved when all of the attention focuses on just one aspect of it. It's a whole package and the whole package has to go forward by May 2000.
GEORGE MITCHELL: Well, I intend no criticism of you, Ray. I know you follow the issue very well, and you know it. It is a big issue for those who feel it's a big issue. But there are plenty of people who feel it isn't a big issue, and they have another big issue that they want. Everybody in Northern Ireland has a different point of view on all of these things. I do not minimize the issue. It is an absolutely essential part of the process. And it must occur for this process to succeed. My point only is that it is not the only critical part of this process. There are several others that are of equal importance and which also must go forward. |
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| When will George Mitchell not be needed? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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RAY SUAREZ: Well, you are now a pretty experienced negotiator in this part of the world and know the players pretty intimately. At what point in the evolution of these political institutions will it be necessary to have a crisis that they fix without you flying to Belfast? No, seriously. I mean is there a point at which they'll need to be able to work this out on their own?
RAY SUAREZ: Well, maybe what they need is to start fighting about things like streetlights and school budgets and where to draw borough lines and administrative districts instead of these great big stirring issues that ring down the corridors of history - just be politicians. GEORGE MITCHELL: Well, I said many times in recent statements, and
I concluded my recent book on this subject by remarking that my most
fervent hope is that in a few years I will take my young son to Northern
Ireland, and we'll travel the country. It's a very beautiful country
and they're wonderfully warm and hospitable people. And then one rainy
day we'll go RAY SUAREZ: George Mitchell, thanks for being with us this evening. GEORGE MITCHELL: Thank you, Ray. |
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GEORGE
MITCHELL: I think the political parties recognize that their interest
in keeping the Good Friday Agreement alive and implementing it overrode
their concerns and apprehensions about moving forward in circumstances
that are very difficult for them politically. They're caught in a vise,
really, and I think that they finally decided they want to implement
the agreement more than they're worried about the political implications
of doing so.
RAY
SUAREZ: Earlier in the year on this program, you said that each side
assumes the worst about each other. But it sounds like there's been
some change in that, at least between Mr. Trimble and Gerry Adams. 
RAY
SUAREZ: Well, one dramatic change, at least on the part of the Ulster
unionists, David Trimble had assured anyone who would listen that Sinn
Fein would not get into the government unless it began disarming first.
All the IRA has agreed to now is talks about decommissioning. This would
seem to be a pretty big step for David Trimble. 
GEORGE
MITCHELL: That's true. They are saying that. And on the other side,
there are some saying "here we go, the unionists are going to set
up the executive. Then there will be an act of decommissioning and then
they'll stop the executive." And so you have people on both sides
who disbelieve and distrust the other. And of course if you accept the
most negative possible outcome, if you refuse to have any confidence,
any political confidence in the steps that will occur, why, of course,
there will never be an end to the conflict and there will never be any
agreement. You can easily identify several scenarios that are gloomy,
and that would cause the whole process to fail. If I had been of that
view, I would have adjourned this review process the day after it started
and almost every day thereafter until the end. But I think you have
to have a will to success. I think you have to have an attitude that
says the alternative failure, a return to conflict, is unacceptable.
And we have to go forward and we're going to succeed. And I think that
will happen. 
RAY
SUAREZ: Well, I don't want to join that unfortunate media tendency,
but it has seemed like that's been the biggest single issue that a lot
of things precede from the institution of that Northern Ireland Assembly,
and this was one big logjam to getting that done. 
GEORGE
MITCHELL: The next one is what I've told them because my role in the
process is complete. I've now been involved in Northern Ireland for
nearly five years. And the reality is that it isn't healthy for the
process for them to be able to call someone from the outside to come
on in. Now, it was helpful to me to be able to gain the trust of all
concerned that I was from the outside. But this democracy must function,
as all democracies must do, with all the pain, the occasional messiness,
the difficulty, and they'll have to work it out themselves. Believe
me, they want to do it and they're capable of doing it. I know political
leaders from all over the world. The people of Northern Ireland are
intelligent, energetic, productive. Their political leaders are just
as courageous, just as wise, and in fact somewhat more eloquent than
political leaders elsewhere. They can get this job done, and I believe
they will. 
to the Northern Ireland assembly and sit quietly in the visitor's gallery
and watch and listen as the members of the assembly debate the ordinary
issues of life in a democratic society: education, health care, economic
development, fisheries, agriculture. There will be no talk of war, for
the war will have long been over. There will be no talk of peace, for
peace will be taken for granted. On that day, the day on which peace
is taken for granted in Northern Ireland, then I will be truly and finally
fulfilled.