THE fragile Northern Ireland peace process teeters on the brink of collapse today as Sinn Fein faces inevitable expulsion from the talks after the IRA was linked to two recent murders in Belfast.

The IRA's statement that its ceasefire remained intact and the claim of its political wing, Sinn Fein, that is entitled to remain in the talks because it is not the IRA would be laughable if it was not yet more murder that has jeopardised the peace process.

But Ulster Secretary Mo Mowlam must not appease either party by failing to suspend Sinn Fein.

To do so would be double standards and provoke Unionist fury because the loyalist Ulster Democratic Party is already suspended from the talks - albeit "voluntarily" after facing expulsion after its associates in the Ulster Freedom Fighters admitted three recent sectarian murders.

Yet, the risk is that Sinn Fein's expulsion may trigger a formal end to the IRA ceasefire and blow the whole peace process away.

If the government is daunted by that thought, it must be steeled by the fact that this juncture is now also a test for the IRA - of the credibility of their claim of being committed to a democratic settlement.

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