In Ireland

The Victims and Survivors Trust

Irish News Friday January 16th 1998

Killers must not succeed

IT would be wrong to pretend that there is not some unease among nationalists about the direction of the Stormont talks.

In many areas, there is a belief that the heads of agreement document released earlier this week was unduly favourable to the unionist position.

At a much more basic level, there is enormous anger and frustration over the escalating murder campaign directed against Catholics by loyalist paramilitary groups.

Of the 21 deaths over the last 12 months, five were carried out by republicans. Each was evil and unacceptable.

The other 16 were the responsiblity of loyalists, with the majority of the victims being Catholic civilians.

This represents nothing less than a killing spree, motivated solely by sectarian hatred.

Three of the most recent attacks were intended to be massacres on the scale of Greysteel and Loughinisland.

Seamus Dillon, Eddie Treanor and Terry Enright lost their lives, and many others had miraculous escapes.

These are dark days, but the one development which would make matters immeasurably worse would be a return to violence on the republican side.

It was therefore reassuring to hear Sinn Fein sources say that, despite their unhappiness, there was no question of the party pulling out of the Stormont talks.

In addition, it was helpful for the SDLP negotiator, Mark Durkan, to place on the record yesterday that his party would not be signing up to any agreement which excluded north-south bodies with executive functions.

A negotiation process is under way, and it is up to each party to argue its case as firmly as possible.

It is impossible to say precisely what the outcome will be, but the main nationalist groups have made it clear that they will accept nothing less than cross-border institutions with real powers.

The unionist parties and the other groups represented at Stormont are also entitled to put forward what they see as their minimum requirements.

Accommodating the various sets of aspirations will be difficult, but it remains the only viable way forward.

The gangs of sectarian killers who have been striking across Northern Ireland are determined to destroy both the Stormont process and any prospect of a peaceful settlement. They must not succeed.