Trimble faces demands to quit Stormont in protest over IRA

The Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, faces his party executive today amid a growing sense of crisis in the peace process, centring on the activities of the IRA, especially in Colombia.

A BBC report that the IRA had been deeply involved in training and developing weaponry in Colombia has been given much credibility in Unionist circles.

The report that the IRA leader Brian Keenan had sanctioned the Colombian activities while acting as liaison on arms decommissioning has, in Unionist minds, provided evidence of deep IRA duplicity.

While Sinn Fein has denied the claims, the fact is that Unionist confidence in republican bona fides is now rapidly approaching zero.

In Unionist political terms, this has translated in a new wave of pressure on Mr Trimble from that substantial part of his party which opposes the Good Friday Agreement and the presence of Sinn Fein ministers in government. Party dissidents are now calling for the expulsion of Sinn Fein from the Northern Ireland Executive, or failing that a walkout of Unionist ministers.

David Burnside, the South Antrim MP, declared: "The IRA's ceasefire is in tatters. Now is the time for the UUP to take action to seek support for a motion to Sinn Fein from the government of Northern Ireland. If that fails, our ministers should withdraw from the Stormont Executive."

Mr Trimble pressed Tony Blair to take action when they met in the Channel Islands yesterday, calling for action against republicans to prevent "a catastrophic loss of confidence" in the peace process." He added: "There is no doubt that there are people in the republican movement who have been guilty of breaches of the ceasefire."

Speaking in Jersey, Mr Blair responded: "The peace process is still the best guarantor of an end to paramilitary activity. That peace process represents the process of transition for certain parties from violence to democracy, but that transition has got to be completed. There is not a halfway house for democracy."

Meanwhile there was an across-the-board welcome for a statement from loyalist paramilitary groups that they would adopt a "no first strike" attitude towards violence at Belfast flashpoints.

Some of the welcomes were, however, tinged with caution. Gerry Kelly of Sinn Fein declared: "We have heard statements like this before from loyalist groups, and each time they have been followed by more attacks on Catholic families and their homes. We will treat this with justifiable scepticism."