Ulster Unionists Meet With White House Officials

Hoping to energize Northern Ireland’s stalled peace process, senior Clinton administration officials met with leaders of the province’s main Protestant political party at the White House on Tuesday.

David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said all sides agreed: “What we need is a genuine cease-fire.”

The 90-minute meeting was chaired by national security adviser Anthony Lake with Vice President Al Gore briefly taking part. President Clinton had been expected to drop by but did not, Trimble said.

Trimble characterized the session as one of a series of steps by the United States to encourage progress in the face of enduring obstacles to peace.

Talks on Northern Ireland’s future involving nine local parties began in June under the direction of former Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine.

But the Sinn Fein party was barred from the talks because its allies in the Irish Republican Army ended the IRA’s cease-fire in February with a truck-bomb explosion in London.

The IRA said it was resuming its bombing campaign because of the refusal of the British government to let Sinn Fein into the talks without conditions.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the White House repeated its commitment to work with all parties in Northern Ireland, as well as the British and Irish governments.

Trimble said the Ulster party delegation expressed renewed “suspicion and skepticism” of positions taken by the IRA and Sinn Fein. Jeffrey Donaldson, the party secretary, quoted Gore as saying it is the U.S. position to “see the IRA out of business.”