Ulster Momentum Lost Again

David Trimble and his Ulster Unionist Party were asked to make a leap of faith to secure for Northern Ireland the chance for a settled peace between religious and political factions in the British province. Trimble was asked to agree to formation of a new provincial administration to govern Ulster without sticking to a strict timetable on disarmament by the Irish Republican Army. He refused. He demanded a degree of certainty no one could give, and the peace process buckled once again.

Under the plan proposed by the London and Dublin governments, progress on getting the IRA to turn in its weapons could have been tested in a matter of four or five weeks. Had the new provincial government been installed Thursday, a formal process toward “decommissioning” the weapons could have been set in place within days.

Come September, a report by Gen. John de Chastelain, the Canadian negotiator for disarmament, would have shown who was in compliance with decommissioning and who was not. And that would have set in motion a mechanism to review the process if it had failed.

Trimble chose not to wait until then, and his impatience at this crucial moment has set back many months of work by officials and diplomats to resolve the governmental structure of Ulster and begin making headway against decades of mistrust and violence. Momentum is gone now, and the fault lies with Trimble.

But because no lasting peace is feasible without a consensus, all parties must now renew their commitment to political progress and stability. Work can proceed on other parts of the Good Friday agreement, like a review of pending criminal and justice issues and the development of the human rights agenda. The prospects of the agreement depend on it.