Trimble still backs power sharing

BELFAST, Northern Ireland, March 16 (UPI) -- Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble urged Britain to restore power-sharing between Catholic and Protestant parties in Northern Ireland.

Trimble in a statement reaffirmed his party's active commitment to a return to devolved government in Northern Ireland, the UUP said.

"While we wait for the IRA to decommission and disband, the democratic politicians in Northern Ireland should not be excluded from power," Trimble said.

Trimble, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in negotiating the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, expressed profound disappointment his party would not have an opportunity for direct discussions with U.S. President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials on the Irish Republican Army's recent criminality and political developments.

"The unmasking of the events since December 2004, involving Sinn Fein/IRA, and the duplicity and criminality of its leadership, has once again demonstrated that they are unfit for government and unable to honor their obligations to conduct their affairs by exclusively peaceful means," Trimble said.