NORTHERN IRELAND: BELFAST: MULTI PARTY PEACE TALKS UPDATE

(8 Apr 1998) English/Nat The Prime Ministers of Britain and Ireland were in Belfast on Wednesday to try and save the embattled Northern Ireland Peace process. Irish premier Bertie Ahern met Tony Blair for an hour at Hillsborough Castle, southwest of Belfast. They discussed the rejection of a confidential draft agreement by the Ulster Unionists, the biggest Protestant party. The Two Premiers met for their own discussions before re-starting their effort to save the peace process. With Thursday night's deadline drawing ever closer, they must persuade the Ulster Unionist party to accept some form of compromise. The largest protestant party had rejected the deal on Tuesday in the strongest possible terms - and two hours of discussions with Tony Blair failed to break the impasse. It's leader David Trimble contended that the 65-page plan would give the overwhelmingly Catholic Irish Republic too much influence over Northern Ireland. Catholic parties in the process, however, are pushing for just that sort of cross-border linkage - an expression of their desire for a united Ireland. To achieve this end, they propose a strong Ireland-Northern Ireland council complete with decision-making powers. Warning that there were still "difficult questions" to be resolved in the search for a settlement, the leaders arrived at Stormont Castle for a day of intensive negotiations. Their meeting came hours after more violence in the province. On Tuesday night, sectarian killers opposed to the peace talks struck again. A small anti-British gang called the Irish National Liberation Army fatally shot a Protestant in front of his Londonderry home. At Stormont prior to talks Blair said there was still much to be resolved. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I mean there are a lot of hard questions to resolve, I'm here full of ideas and determination, I'm going to give it the best try I possibly can, but there are difficult questions to resolve and I think the most difficult thing is to make sure the principles are clearly agreed and then very very clearly expressed. But the trouble with this situation, as you all know, after long experience of it is that words matter, every word matters. It's very hard, I don't want to mislead people by saying anything else, but I think and hope there is plenty of goodwill provided we can agree the principles and express them clearly." SUPER CAPTION: Tony Blair, British Prime Minister Asked about the shooting he said it showed how important an agreement was. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well, obviously shock and horror as ever, and this is precisely why it is so important that we carry on with the work we are doing because the people here deserve a better future than a life of bloodshed and murder and disharmony." SUPER CAPTION: Tony Blair, British Prime Minister Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams said his was confident that both Prime Ministers were "very focused" on moving negotiations forward. He added that his party remained committed to the talks. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We want to do business with the Unionists, we want to extend the hand of friendship with them and to them but it has to be on the basis of equality. We have rights and those who we represent are not going to settle for any less, and our entitlement and the Nationalist position is very very modest and the positions we are putting are absolutely legitimate." SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein Leader Despite their determination, it was unlikely that Blair and Ahern would be able to cobble together an agreement on Northern Ireland's future by Thursday night. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...