Republicans 'must abandon violence'

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid has urged republicans to abandon violence forever in an address to the Labour Party conference.

As allegations the IRA had been involved in a new spate of shootings and beatings put the peace process under fresh pressure, Dr Reid told Sinn Fein it was time to pledge their commitment to convince the sceptics.

"You cannot continue to ride two horses at once. Especially if the two horses are as far apart as violence and democracy," he said.

Dr Reid's comments followed allegations from the victims of two brutal attacks in the province that they had been shot and beaten by the IRA.

Process under pressure

A bus driver who was beaten with a hammer and shot in the legs in Londonderry said IRA men targeted him because he was a relative of a man they had a dispute with.

And on Thursday the father of a 20-year-old student abducted in south Armagh and severely injured in a beating with hammers and nail-studded clubs last month, also blamed republicans.

The case of three Irish men accused of being part of an IRA training squad instructing left-wing FARC guerrillas in bomb making, who are due to stand trial in Colombia on Friday, has also drawn criticism of the republican movement from unionists.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has already set Sinn Fein a New Year deadline for ending all IRA activity and proving the republican movement is committed to peace or his ministers will quit Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive.

Dr Reid said he believed the republican leadership was committed to achieving a united Ireland through democratic means.

But he insisted: "If you want your partnership with unionists to be sustained, then you need to convince them, to reassure them."

'Agreement best hope'

He used his speech to party delegates as an opportunity to re-dedicate the government to achieving its goal of lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

"The new way, the Good Friday Agreement, remains the best hope for future generations in Northern Ireland," he said.

However, Dr Reid admitted the peace process was facing tough challenges.

He urged unionists against further alienating nationalists by collapsing the devolved institutions.

"They need to know that you are really committed to power-sharing, and that every time it is established, genuine concerns about paramilitary activity are not simply an excuse to raise the bar once again," he said.

The Northern Ireland secretary also vowed to clamp down on the bombing and shooting campaigns of both loyalist and republicans paramilitaries.

He said: "We will oppose that twisted logic with the full might of the security forces and with every power available to us."