The First Minister in Northern Ireland, David Trimble, has threatened to resign his position as head of the Executive on 1 July unless the IRA begins to decommission its weapons. He said that disarmament had to begin by the target date set by the International Commission on Decommissioning at the end of June. Mr Trimble confirmed that he had handed a post-dated letter of resignation to the Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice. In a statement, the Government said that it had been surprised by the move, but the Ulster Unionist leader said that he had dropped broad hints in talks with the Taoiseach last week.
Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin described Mr Trimble's threat as a disastrous announcement. He said that if the Unionist leader persisted with his stance he would never see decommissioning. The Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, said that he would regret it if David Trimble were to resign. Dr Reid added that Mr Trimble took the decision alone, without consultation with the British government. The Assembly was suspended for three months last year by the former Northern Secretary, Peter Mandelson, to prevent the institutions collapsing. It was restored after the IRA made a series of pledges to begin the process of disarmament.
Mr Trimble told the Assembly: "I have this day signed and lodged with you a letter resigning as First Minister as from 1 July, 2001. This letter will take effect unless before that date the Republican movement keeps the promise it made over a year ago." He was speaking this morning, hours before Tony Blair was expected to announce an election on 7 June. Mr Trimble already let it be known that there is a narrow gap between the expected election date and a scheduled meeting of his party's ruling council on 23 June for progress on decommissioning.
It is feared that he might not survive a vote at that meeting should there be no move on arms and should Unionists fare badly in the election. His threatened resignation represents a real threat to the institutions as it would leave the Executive leaderless and would leave a question mark over the role of Seamus Mallon, the Deputy First Minister. Mr Mallon said that Mr Trimble had only given him two minutes' notice of his intended statement and that he had not had time to dissuade him.
