Northern Ireland's Protestant leader David Trimble resigned Sunday as head of its power-sharing government, plunging the province's peace process into its gravest crisis to date.
Trimble said he was standing down as first minister over the IRA's refusal to start disarming, but left the door open for his return if the controversial issue can be resolved.
His move sent the ever fragile peace process into its biggest crisis since the landmark Good Friday accord was signed in April 1998, with the prospect of London once again restoring direct rule.
Trimble said he no longer had any confidence in the "unfulfilled promises" made by republicans to give up their weapons, after having had three years to do so under the accord.
"My objective is to see the agreement fulfilled and I am ready to take some risks to achieve that," he said in Thiepval, northern France.
Trimble was in Thiepval for ceremonies commemorating the 1916 Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest of World War I. Tens of thousands of Irish troops died in the carnage.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair paid tribute to Trimble's leadership and said he "fully understood" his decision to resign -- THIEPVAL, France (AFP)
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