| The long-awaited first rough draft
of a proposed
agreement in the north of Ireland by talks chairman George Mitchell has been rejected outright by David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party and the loyalist Ulster Democratic Party. Other parties, including Sinn Fein and the nationalist SDLP, said they also had reservations. Former US Senator Mitchell released his 65-page plan to the parties in the early hours of this morning. The emphatic denunciations by the Ulster Unionist Party and their loyalist allies and their stinging criticisms of the Dublin government followed this afternoon. Mitchell warned the parties that "lives could be put at risk" if details of the comprehensive consultation document were leaked in advance of Thursday's deadline for a settlement. All of the main parties at the talks accepted Mitchell's appeal not to reveal the contents, and while refusing to discuss the details of the document, said they were unhappy with some aspects. The main areas of difficulty in the talks include the powers and legislative basis of proposed new cross-border bodies, the internal structures of a planned Six County assembly, and the extent of constitutional changes in Irish and British law on the north. The text sets out areas of agreement in detail while framing the differing views on the various disputes already familiar to the public. Ulster Unionist leading negotiator Reg Empey said this morning the Mitchell paper "flags up areas of difficulty" but that there was "a mountain to climb" if agreement was to be reached by Thursday. Speaking before the unionists announced their rejection of the document, he said: "Between now and Thursday we all have a mountain to climb because there are clearly matters of significance that have not been resolved." But by this afternoon, UUP concerns had become a torrent of outrage, with unionist spin-doctors describing the draft as "a Sinn Fein wish-list". Ulster Unionist deputy leader John Taylor said: "I wouldn't touch this paper with a 40ft barge pole." "The document is pretty much dead," one unionist source complained. "We are back to the drawing board." Another pointed the finger south: "The blame lies at the door of the Irish government who have been far too greedy. This paper is in ruins." The unionists' rejection of the document, the first clear product of six months negotiation, followed phone calls involving the British Prime Minister and Mr Trimble. A letter of protest vehemently castigating the Dublin government was also faxed to Downing Street, with Dublin accused of negotiating "in bad faith". The party complained that Dublin had refused meetings with the UUP and had ignored the lessons of the 1974 Sunningdale accord -- a previous agreement which collapsed after widespread unionist protests. The Irish government strongly rejected the unionist claims. "It's simply not true. Bertie Ahern was prepared to meet them in Dublin today at very short notice," said a spokesman. Due the funeral of Bertie Ahern's mother tomorrow and the removal of her remains tonight, the Irish Prime Minister was not able to travel to Belfast overnight, but briefed US President Bill Clinton by phone. An official spokesman for Tony Blair said of the Ulster Unionists' rejection of the document: "No-one has been asked to accept the Mitchell document. It is the basis for negotiations and those negotiations are continuing." Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said his party wasn't surprised by the "antics" of the Ulster Unionist Party, while SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon accused the Unionists of engaging in "stunt politics". Former Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds said the unionists were engaged in a strategy to "up the ante" to get the British Prime Minister involved. Adams called on the unionists, to "knuckle down and join with all the parties here in trying to bring about the type of settlement, the type of agreement, which people deserve." He called for "detailed, sustained and focussed negotiations" despite the "reluctance of some parties to face the future". Welcoming the document, he said the Senator had dealt with all the issues and compare the paper to a stew: "We have all the ingredients, but you have to cook it properly". ' Speaking this evening, Mr Adams said despite the "antics" of the UUP, Sinn Fein was seeking "change and maximum change" to bring about a democratic peace settlement. "There are difficulties in this document for us. We have spent today engaging in bilateral talks . ..in a constructive way to try to get a comprehensive settlement." His party had stressed that "a comprehensive settlement requires a comprehensive agreement," he said. The West Belfast MP called on Mr Blair to take a leadership role and he urged Bertie Ahern to maintain a focussed approach to taking the north out of the "current political slum that some of us were born into and to build a bridge to take us out of this situation." Sinn Fein national chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said he hoped Mr Blair, who arrived in Belfast this evening. would continue to treat all parties on an equal basis. "Possibly his meeting with Mr Trimble will help his party recognise that this is a time for decision and that they had to address these issues." He said his party's concerns could be resolved by negotiation in the coming 72 hours. "No-one is going to get absolutely everything that they want. There is no party at Stormont which doesn't have difficulties." He said Sinn Fein's problems centred on British constitutionality, the issues of justice, policing and prisoners and the north-south body. But the party was absolutely determined to get the difficulties ironed out and resolved. One of the problems was that unionists continued to refuse to talk to his party, he said. "There are probably misunderstandings and difficulties between us which could and should be resolved if we engaged in direct face to face talks." SDLP leader John Hume said all parties had anxieties about Senator Mitchell's paper. "It is a document that has many positive elements but that raises difficulties for all parties, difficulties we should be discussing in the talks. "All parties have anxieties about the Mitchell paper and those are matters that we must sort out in the talks process," he said. Many observers thought the unionists' hardline position today was an attempt to gain a tactical negotiating advantage in the talks by throwing the Dublin government off balance while securing Tony Blair's involvement on the unionist side. There was some suspicion that the unionists' surprisingly vehement accusations of bad faith by Dublin could form part of an exit route if high-wire negotiations this week do not go according to plan. David Trimble is seeking radical changes in the final document and has reportedly prepared extensive revisions of large sections of the draft text. But unionists may have over-estimated Ahern's room for manouevre in passing a referendum which would including the removal of the Irish constitutional claim to national territorial unity. Sinn Fein negotiator Lucilita Bhreathnach said all the parties, including the unionists, had been familiar with the contents of the Mitchell paper before it was released. "It doesn't auger well that the the unionists are now trying to veto progess at the talks," she warned. Arriving in Stormont, Tony Blair said it was "not a day for sound bites" but that he felt "the hand of history upon our shoulders, and we need to respond to that and acknowledge that." "We need to try. I'm here to try." * A soccer match in Dublin between Shelbourne and Finn Harps was suspended for twenty minutes tonight following a bomb warning. The match at Tolka stadium in Dublin was suspended just before half-time and some 3,000 fans were evacuated. Following checks by Garda police, fans were allowed to return and the match proceeded without incident. |