Ahern, Blair demand movement

“What we’ve got to do is make sure we get a way forward before the June elections,” Blair said. “I don’t think we can wait and let this drift into the summer. I think it’s important we deal with this now.”
Ahern said that “we need to fast track the situation.” Both leaders called for a definitive end to all paramilitary activity and to “securing commitments for stable and durable institutions.” However, when the leaders were asked what would happen to Sinn Fein if the IRA refused to end activity, Ahern replied that the process would remain and “inclusive” one.
Meanwhile, David Trimble is preparing to face a direct challenge to his leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party as he makes his regular annual appearance before the 800 members of the party’s ruling council Saturday.
A low-profile UUP member from Belfast, David Hoey, has announced that he will oppose Trimble in the leadership contest.
Hoey is not considered strong enough to topple Trimble, but he is being cast as a stalking horse, a weak challenger sent in to test the strength of opposition to the incumbent. If he does well in the contest, a more realistic contender could emerge.
Trimble has survived numerous clashes with that wing of his party in outright opposition to the Good Friday settlement in the North, but he has been considerably weakened by the party’s poor performance in the Assembly election last November.
Hardline elements in the party have indicated that they would accept Sir Reg Empey, who was once one of Trimble’s closest supporters, as a replacement leader. Empey has signaled that he is prepared to take over the party, but said he will not directly challenge Trimble.
Yesterday’s visit to the North by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Prime Minister Tony Blair could give Trimble a late boost before his party’s meeting.
The two leaders held discussions with the parties about continuing paramilitary activity, an issue that Trimble has attempted to make the fundamental question for the ongoing review of the Good Friday agreement.
The review ran into difficulty last month when dissident republican Bobby Tohill was attacked in a Belfast bar by four men. After the North’s police chief, Hugh Orde, blamed the IRA for the attack, Trimble pulled his party out of the review and the Rev. Ian Paisley’s DUP underlined their refusal to meet with Sinn Fein.
However, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams indicated that the key to unlocking the problems would be the DUP’s acceptance of his party’s right to be in the North’s government.
“We can tweak fundamental political institutions, but at the end of the day, the DUP has to get real,” he said. “For decades the DUP talked about smashing Sinn Fein and tried to do that by fair means or foul.”
He added that there had to be saner voices in the party who “must realize that the only way forward is through dialogue so that young people, unionists, nationalists and republicans can all have the future that they deserve.”