Sinn Fein Ouster From Talks Sought

Northern Ireland’s major party demanded the expulsion of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party from peace talks because of two recent killings blamed on the Irish Republican Army. Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said he expects the negotiations on Northern Ireland’s future to concentrate on whether to expel Sinn Fein. The talks in Belfast are inching toward the creation of a new Northern Ireland assembly in which Protestants and Catholics would govern in coalition. Sinn Fein flatly opposes the plan because it wants to abolish Northern Ireland, not reform it.