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1994-05-02
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<text>
<title>
Talks on Northern Ireland Open in Belfast
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Foreign Broadcast Information Service, June 18, 1991
United Kingdom: Talks on Northern Ireland Open in Belfast
</hdr>
<body>
<p>[Ian Graham and Chris Parkin report. London PRESS ASSOCIATION
in English 1242 GMT 17 Jun 91]
</p>
<p> [Text] Historic talks to decide the political future of
Northern Ireland finally started in Belfast today, despite a
last-minute threat to the negotiations from the Reverend Ian
Paisley. The Democratic Union Party (DUP) leader posed a
problem when he left the talks venue at Belfast's old Stormont
parliamentary building. He and DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson
spent an hour at their headquarters getting new information
about Sir Ninian Stephen, the former governor-general of
Australia and judge who was today named as chairman for the
second stage of talks, in which the Government of the Irish
Republic will become involved. It appeared to satisfy them as
minutes after Mr. Paisley and Mr. Robinson were driven back to
Stormont the talks started--at 12.52 precisely. They lasted
just 18 minutes before delegates stopped for an 80-minute lunch
break.
</p>
<p> Today's meeting is the first time in 16 years that Northern
Ireland's four main constitutional political parties have sat
down for face-to-face talks to try to find a way out of the
political limbo which has bedevilled the province for two
decades.
</p>
<p> Confirmation of the go-ahead for the chairman came in a
brief statement from the Northern Ireland Office, issued two
hours after the scheduled start. The terse government
declaration said Sir Ninian had accepted an invitation to chair
the vital second phase of the talks process.
</p>
<p> Two other parties involved in the talks, the nationalist
Social Democratic and Labour Party and the non-sectarian
Alliance, had said the round-table conference could not begin
until the chairmanship issue was resolved. The green light
finally came after seven weeks of delays.
</p>
<p> None of the parties expects the deliberations to bring a
sudden end to terrorism. The IRA's [Irish Republican Army]
political wing, Sinn Fein, has been excluded from the talks
because of its support for the campaign of violence which has
claimed almost 3,000 lives in 21 years.
</p>
<p> But the terrorists cast a shadow over the start of the
talks. A part-time Ulster Defence Regiment soldier was shot dead
at the north Belfast tyre depot where he worked as he got out
of his car. The killing came less than 24 hours after the
outlawed loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force admitted attempting to
kill a Catholic in west Belfast yesterday. It was the loyalists'
first terrorist attack since they called a partial ceasefire
seven weeks ago on the eve of what should have been the first
day of political talks. There was no immediate claim of
responsibility for today's killing, which was believed to be an
IRA retaliation for yesterday's murder attempt.
</p>
<p> The hunt for the killers began as Northern Ireland Secretary
Peter Brooke sat down around the conference table at Stormont
with the local politicians.
</p>
<p> The mainly-Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party was
led by MP [Member of Parliament] John Hume; the
middle-of-the-road Alliance Party by Dr. John Alderdice; the
Ulster Unionist Party by MP James Molyneaux, and the Democratic
Unionist Party by Mr. Paisley. Each party has a 10-man team at
the talks, but only three members of each delegation team will
be at the table at any time.
</p>
<p> The talks began with a position statement by Mr. Brooke
which will be followed by similar papers from each party in
turn. In the coming days the parties will then discuss their
demands and try to find agreement on some form of devolved
administration for Northern Ireland.
</p>
<p> Mr. Brooke was one of the earliest arrivals at Stormont but
made no comment to a waiting posse of journalists.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>