McGuinness: 'This is a defining moment. Now others must seize it'

Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, was adamant yesterday that the movement's new position represented a "dramatic contribution, unparalleled and unprecedented in terms of republicanism".

Describing the peace process as approaching a defining moment, he called on the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader, David Trimble, "to seize this stuff and go out and proclaim it as an important development".

Mr McGuinness was markedly more critical of Mr Trimble than of the British government, which is traditionally the principal focus of Sinn Fein complaints. Strikingly, in a 50-minute interview with The Independent, he mentioned the UUP leader by name no fewer than 50 times, incorporating criticisms of Mr Trimble into almost every answer, whatever the question.

One republican aim is to ease the rising pressure on Sinn Fein and the IRA, and switch the spotlight on to Unionism. Mr McGuinness was well aware that London, Dublin, Washington and Mr Trimble had united to push for greater IRA clarity and movement.

Had he felt isolated? "The only people who can isolate us are the electorate," he replied. "Obviously, at decisive points pressure is applied, usually to Sinn Fein, we've been round long enough to know that. But we have a very large electoral mandate – almost 180,000 votes in the last Westminster election. We're now the largest nationalist party in the North and in the next elections I've no doubt we'll make further gains."

Tony Blair has set republicans three questions: to declare their stance on abandoning arms, ending paramilitary activity and "the complete and final closure of the conflict".

Mr McGuinness said: "I was disappointed that he chose to put before the public very sensitive aspects of the recent deliberations. I think he took a gamble and in my view it's a gamble that didn't work.

"He thought that confronting the IRA on aspects of their statement in that fashion is the way to do business. That's not the way it works ... there were errors in his interpretation. His publicly declared assessment of what was in the IRA statement was not accurate.

"The questions asked by Tony Blair are David Trimble's questions, not Tony Blair's. Trimble wants the IRA on their knees."

Yet the republican movement clearly took the questions seriously, answering them yesterday in quite specific terms. Downing Street's initial reaction was that disarmament and ending the conflict have been addressed but further clarification was necessary on the question of IRA activities.

Mr McGuinness said the governments had further to go. On policing, he said, the document envisaged Catholic representation in the policeas taking 10 more years to reach 30 per cent, even though the proportion of Catholics in the community was far higher.

He rejected the suspicion of many observers that some last-minute hitch had developed within Sinn Fein or the IRA that had prevented a deal being clinched in recent weeks.

"The reality is that we never deceive anybody about the IRA and we certainly don't deceive the IRA," he said. "Maybe the governments, for whatever reason, raised expectations about what was on the menu. If they did, it was a miscalculation on their part. Journalists are spun to from all sides but the most powerful spinners of all are obviously governmental, in both London and Dublin.

"We have been very upfront with the two governments and the Ulster Unionist Party vis-à-vis what could be achieved at this time. We have to be mindful that what is offered up might be the best offer people can make at that given moment, just as the joint declaration might be the best offer the two governments can make.

"What is critically significant in all of this is that, even against a backdrop of David Trimble refusing to give commitments, the IRA were still prepared to offer that initiative. That's the remarkable aspect."

Mr McGuinness said of the recent Stevens report, which accused intelligence services of widespread collusion with loyalist paramilitaries: "Everybody is talking about 'is the war over' and all that but I'm getting it left, right and centre on the streets about this report.

"These people were killing civilians, not in ones and twos but by the hundreds, all over Belfast and elsewhere. It's a massive issue that isn't going to go away. All of that is shaking the rafters of republicanism and nationalism."

Mr McGuinness's 50 mentions of Mr Trimble accuse the Unionist of trying to humiliate republicans and "to march in triumphalist fashion to the election, proclaiming a victory over the IRA". He said: "People do draw inferences from the fact that David Trimble has never shaken hands with Gerry Adams or myself – never."

On the issue of republican language, the Sinn Fein leader said Mr Trimble should watch the film Braveheart and note the final scene: "Where the English tried to get William Wallace to utter their words and he instead uttered his own words. Maybe then he would understand that that's the nature of what he's trying to do with the IRA. The sooner he recognises that, the sooner we will all move on."

But hadn't William Wallace died under torture at the end of the movie? "Well," said Mr McGuinness, "they killed him, but they didn't break him."