IRA renounces violence and armed conflict

[RACooper]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4720863.stm

IRA says armed campaign is over

The IRA has formally ordered an end to its armed campaign and says it will pursue exclusively peaceful means.

In a long-awaited statement, the republican organisation said it would follow a democratic path ending more than 30 years of violence.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the move was a "courageous and confident initiative" and that the moment must be seized.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was a "step of unparalleled magnitude".

"It is what we have striven for and worked for throughout the eight years since the Good Friday Agreement," he said.

The IRA made its decision after an internal debate prompted by Mr Adams' call in April to pursue its goals exclusively through politics.

Mr Adams said Thursday's statement was a "defining point in the search for a lasting peace with justice" and also presented challenges for others.

"It means that unionists who are for the Good Friday Agreement must end their ambivalence," he said.

"And it is a direct challenge to the DUP to decide if they want to put the past behind them, and make peace with the rest of the people of this island."

In a joint communique the British and Irish governments welcomed the statement and said if the IRA's words "are borne out by actions, it will be a momentous and historic development".

"Verified acts of completion will provide a context in which we will expect all parties to work towards the full operation of the political institutions, including the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive, and the North-South structures, at the earliest practicable date," it said.


KEY POINTS OF STATEMENT
All IRA units ordered to dump arms
Members ordered to pursue objectives through "exclusively peaceful means"
Arms to be put beyond use as quickly as possible
Two church witnesses to verify this
Statement followed "honest and forthright" consultation process
Strong support among IRA members for Sinn Fein's peace strategy
There is now an alternative way to achieve goal of united Ireland
"Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever"


The Independent Monitoring Commission, which examines paramilitary activity, has also been asked to produce an additional report in January 2006, three months after their next regular report.

During the Northern Ireland Troubles, the IRA murdered about 1,800 civilians and members of the security forces.

The IRA statement issued on Thursday said the end of the armed campaign would take effect from 1600 BST.

"All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever.

"The IRA leadership has also authorised our representative to engage with the IICD to complete the process to verifiably put its arms beyond use in a way which will further enhance public confidence and to conclude this as quickly as possible."

The statement said independent witnesses from Catholic and Protestant churches had been invited to see the decommissioning process.

Gerry Adams said the "moment must be seized"
It is understood there has already been a meeting between the head of the decommisioning body, General John de Chastelain, and the IRA.

DUP leader Ian Paisley greeted the statement with scepticism, saying that the IRA had "reverted to type" after previous "historic" statements.

"We will judge the IRA's bona fides over the next months and years based on its behaviour and activity," he said.

He said they had also "failed to provide the transparency necessary to truly build confidence that the guns have gone in their entirety".

Ulster Unionist Party Sir Reg Empey, told the BBC's World at One it would take time to convince the people of Northern Ireland that this was more than just rhetoric.

He said: "People are so sceptical, having been burnt so many times before.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan welcomed the statement, saying it was "clear, clean and complete", but "long overdue".

He called on Sinn Fein to commit to the new policing structures in Northern Ireland, as his party had done.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he welcomes the IRA's statement that it was ending its "armed campaign".

Mr Ahern said the end of the IRA as a paramilitary group "is the outcome the governments have been working towards" since the 1994 ceasefire.

The IRA pledge was welcomed by the United States administration as "an important and potentially historic statement".

A White House statement said the words must now be followed by actions and acknowledged there would be scepticism, particularly among victims and their families.

"They will want to be certain that this terrorism and criminality are indeed things of the past," the statement said.

The statement added that it understood from the IRA communique that "the IRA and its members will no longer have any contact with any foreign paramilitary and terrorist organisations".

When he made his appeal in April, Mr Adams said it was "a genuine attempt to drive the peace process forward".

Republicans had been under intense pressure to end IRA activity after the £26.5m Northern Bank raid in December and the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney in January.

Political talks last year failed to restore devolution, which stalled amid claims of IRA intelligence gathering at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, in 2002.

The Provisional IRA's campaign of violence was aimed at forcing an end to the British presence in Northern Ireland, leading to a united Ireland.

It looks like the years of diplomacy are truely paying off - hopefully the Unionist paramilitaries will follow suit as well... I also hope John de Chastelain sees this through until the end - he has worked so long and hard with both sides (and the various politicos interfering) - so that he can get some much deserved credit...

I also hope the War on Terror (or whatever the latest catch-phrase for it is) will draw some lessons from this turn of events - namely that negotiations with "terrorists" can produce viable results.

[bcdphie]

I was very happy to hear this news, especially since I will be marrying into a family in two weeks time who are from Belfast and have had to deal with this their whole lives.

[Rudey]

Funny how they rob banks and kill fellow Irish Catholics in brutal ways and then act as if they're peaceful. They have made previous statements and refused to provide evidence of destruction of their weapons as well. Their hard-core elements are so involved in global terror that even if any progress was made, those same elements would just function in other groups.

"The shift followed growing revulsion among its Catholic supporters, both here and in the United States, at the I.R.A.'s involvement in organized crime and, since Sept. 11, at global terrorism.

The statement did not say the I.R.A. was disbanding and did not refer specifically to the issue of crime by I.R.A. members, held responsible for a huge bank heist last December and a brutal barroom murder and cover-up in January.

Some skeptics, moreover, recalled previous I.R.A. statements that had failed to bring peace.

Last December, the Democratic Unionists, led by the firebrand preacher Ian Paisley, scuttled an effort to restore Northern Ireland's government by demanding photographic evidence that the arms had been destroyed, which the I.R.A. refused."

-Rudey

[RACooper]

Originally posted by Rudey
Some skeptics, moreover, recalled previous I.R.A. statements that had failed to bring peace.

Last December, the Democratic Unionists, led by the firebrand preacher Ian Paisley, scuttled an effort to restore Northern Ireland's government by demanding photographic evidence that the arms had been destroyed, which the I.R.A. refused."

-Rudey

I wouldn't quote that dick Paisley as a source Rudey... he is right up there with Fred Phelps in vitrolic hatred and dare I say evil... his advoacting of "eradicating Catholic vermin" or his condemnation of Jews, Homosexuals, Women, Blacks, Immigrants, Journalists, and The Pope (being beaten and dragged out of the European Parliament while yelling that the Pope was the anti-Christ was kinda funny though).

[Rudey]

Originally posted by RACooper
I wouldn't quote that dick Paisley as a source Rudey... he is right up there with Fred Phelps in vitrolic hatred and dare I say evil... his advoacting of "eradicating Catholic vermin" or his condemnation of Jews, Homosexuals, Women, Blacks, Immigrants, Journalists, and The Pope (being beaten and dragged out of the European Parliament while yelling that the Pope was the anti-Christ was kinda funny though).

Regardless, the IRA has refused to show proof that arms were destroyed.

This is all actually ridiculous given how much Ireland is crucial to the economic expansion of Europe as a whole.

-Rudey

[KSigkid]

I'll believe it when I see it - similar overtures have been made prior to this, and there still has been violence. I'm still skeptical on this turn of events, but hopefully for all involved they mean what they say.

[RACooper]

Originally posted by Rudey
Regardless, the IRA has refused to show proof that arms were destroyed.

Well the proposal for a Protestant and a Catholic cleric to observe, the "decomisioning" of the IRA's arms under the supervision of General de Chastelain seems to be good enough for the British government, the IRA, and the British Military.... in fact watching the coverage of the unprecidented announcement (and no this has not happened before) by the IRA, as well as the response by other parties is incredible to watch - the only fly in the ointment is the Unionists led by the likes of Paisley...

The peace process is going forward with or without the acceptance of the hardline Unionists - by stitting out of the process they have undermined their political powerbase, and the IRA and Republicans may now conceivably accomplish by political means what they failed to do by force of arms over the last 95 years.

Oh well opinion aside - the British Military has begun dismantling/decomissioning some observation towers in Northern Ireland as a sign of British Military's commitment to the process:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/n...nd/4726249.stm

Army begins dismantling its posts
The Army has begun dismantling a number of security posts and bases in south Armagh following the IRA's statement saying it had ended its armed campaign.

A base at Forkhill will close, while a watchtower at Sugarloaf Mountain and an observation post at Newtownhamilton police station will also be removed.

The British and Irish governments are considering the next steps to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

An updated programme of "security normalisation" will be published soon.

Commenting on the posts' closure, the Army's general officer commanding, Lieutenant General Sir Reddy Watt, said: ''In light of yesterday's developments, the chief constable and I have decided that a further reduction in security profile is possible.''

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said a reduced military presence was one of a series of measures to be put in place.

He said that the ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission, will report on progress made in October and again in January.

"In the meantime, we'll be taking forward a process of political negotiation, engagement and normalisation of policing and withdrawal of military support for the police," he added.

Such measures were put on ice after the failure to achieve a breakthrough leading to the restoration of devolution in 2003.

Sinn Fein has welcomed Friday's moves to dismantle watch-towers.

"The start made today must be built upon in the days and weeks ahead, not just in south Armagh but across the six counties," Newry and Armagh MP Conor Murphy said.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams told a news conference in Belfast on Friday that it was "now time for dialogue" between his party and Ian Paisley's DUP.

"It's a matter of whether the DUP has the confidence to enter into that dialogue - I think it's a matter of when, not if (that happens).

"There's no reason why, from our point of view, that can't start as quickly as possible and why we shouldn't be talking about the next steps in the rebuilding of the political institutions."

However, unionists have reacted angrily to the news of the Army posts being dismantled.

The DUP's Arlene Foster said it was "criminally irresponsible".

"It's startling that when the IRA give a statement saying they will stop what they should never have been doing, that the government acts so soon," she said.

The UUP's Danny Kennedy said it was outrageous that the government had "foolishly decided to act on IRA words alone".

The SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the British government's programme of security normalisation would have to be examined.

"That will have to be scrutinised by the Independent Monitoring Commission as well because that body also has a role in looking at what the governments are doing," he said.

The DUP is also demanding that pictures are taken of IRA weapons being destroyed as proof.

However, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he believed photographic evidence of IRA decommissioning was not necessary.

Mr Ahern told the BBC's Today programme on Friday it was "significant" that "witnesses from both traditions will be involved".

The British government also intends to introduce legislation in the autumn to allow paramilitary fugitives to return home.

In a statement released on Thursday, the IRA said it would pursue exclusively peaceful means.

The IRA statement said: "All volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means."

On Thursday, Prime Minister Tony Blair said the statement, ending 30 years of violence, was a "step of unparalleled magnitude".

Mr Hain said a return to devolved government at Stormont would not happen soon.

But - eventually - he would like to see the leader of the Democratic Unionists, the Reverend Ian Paisley, as the first minister.

Republicans had been under intense pressure to end IRA activity after the £26.5m Northern Bank raid in December and the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney in January.

Political talks last year failed to restore devolution, which stalled amid claims of IRA intelligence gathering at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, in 2002.

The Provisional IRA's campaign of violence was aimed at forcing an end to the British presence in Northern Ireland, leading to a united Ireland.

In other news it looks like a growing feud within the Unionist movement is becoming more violent - the UVF and the LVF are fighting for control of neighbourhoods; with the violence escalating into nightime murders and shootings... so far 2 men have been killed in the power struggle between the two "Unionist/Loyalist" paramilititary groups.

[Tom Earp]

Rob, I am one of those that say, See it to beleive it!

If true, I am 100 % for it!!!

They need to get over the Sh*T!

But, what most do not realize, it is not about Religion, it is about Economics!

True?

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by Tom Earp
Rob, I am one of those that say, See it to beleive it!

If true, I am 100 % for it!!!

They need to get over the Sh*T!

But, what most do not realize, it is not about Religion, it is about Economics!

True?

It IS about religion, Tom. While the nationalists are differentiated from Sinn Fein, they have the same goals.