TOO LATE FOR OMAGH
Too late for Omagh
REAL IRA: Ceasefire statement is no cause for celebration
THERE can be no rejoicing that the Real IRA have declared a total ceasefire, only the deepest regret that Omagh had to happen before the pressure on them became intolerable. They were an isolated group of dissident republicans, well known to their former colleagues and the police on both sides of the border, but they carried on with impunity until the bombing of Omagh shocked everyone to their senses.
If the ceasefire is complete and unequivocal, it should mark the end of almost a 30-year campaign by republicans of one kind or another. The opening shots were fired in 1969, when civil rights agitation turned violent, and through the 1970s and 1980s the troubles became a permanent feature of life. Only since last year, when parties linked to paramilitaries became fully involved in the political process, and began to commit themselves to democracy, has there been the prospect of a lasting peace.
The tragedy is that renegade republicans should have been able to continue with their military campaign when the will of the people, north ana south, had turned to exclusively peaceful solutions. They hoped to stifle democracy in Northern Ireland at birth, by setting whole populations against each other, and instead they united the island in grief and a determination not to allow further Omaghs to occur.
All those caught up in last month's bomb, whose lives have been changed forever, have paid far too high a price for the political progress that is being made. No one on earth is thanking the Real IRA for stopping what should never have been started and there should be no let-up in the hunt for the Omagh killers, but a welcome can be given to the new mood of solidarity that has arisen out of the tragedy. People are determined not to do as the killers clearly wanted them to do - and abandon hope.
New anti-terrorist legislation is in place, tougher than ever, and it is part of the confidence-building process that the two governments are engaged in to show that they are serious about using it. The bombers must be found and their bomb-making capacity destroyed, or the threat of violence will continue to dog the politicians in their work of reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the first of many obstacles on the way to establishing a Northern Ireland executive and the North-South bodies has been overcome. David Trimble, as First Minister, has met Gerry Adams and the other party leaders, to decide how the present Northern Ireland departments will be reorganised, and on Thursday they meet one-to-one. Their differences over the formation of an executive are well known, one demanding real movement on decommissioning, as an essential part of the Agreement, and the other denying that he is under any obligation, beyond appointing Martin McGuinness to liaise with the decommissioning body.
The reality is that whatever interpretation is put on the Agreement, Mr Trimble would not have sufficient support in his party to proceed to form an executive and set up the All-Ireland Council without reaching some agreement on decommissioning within the two-year period. Mr Adams knows this as well as anyone, and must apply himself to a solution that would embrace loyalist as well as republican paramilitaries. Time is running out, but the politicians cannot allow themselves to be beaten at this crucial stage of an agonisingly long peace process.
REAL IRA: Ceasefire statement is no cause for celebration
THERE can be no rejoicing that the Real IRA have declared a total ceasefire, only the deepest regret that Omagh had to happen before the pressure on them became intolerable. They were an isolated group of dissident republicans, well known to their former colleagues and the police on both sides of the border, but they carried on with impunity until the bombing of Omagh shocked everyone to their senses.
If the ceasefire is complete and unequivocal, it should mark the end of almost a 30-year campaign by republicans of one kind or another. The opening shots were fired in 1969, when civil rights agitation turned violent, and through the 1970s and 1980s the troubles became a permanent feature of life. Only since last year, when parties linked to paramilitaries became fully involved in the political process, and began to commit themselves to democracy, has there been the prospect of a lasting peace.
The tragedy is that renegade republicans should have been able to continue with their military campaign when the will of the people, north ana south, had turned to exclusively peaceful solutions. They hoped to stifle democracy in Northern Ireland at birth, by setting whole populations against each other, and instead they united the island in grief and a determination not to allow further Omaghs to occur.
All those caught up in last month's bomb, whose lives have been changed forever, have paid far too high a price for the political progress that is being made. No one on earth is thanking the Real IRA for stopping what should never have been started and there should be no let-up in the hunt for the Omagh killers, but a welcome can be given to the new mood of solidarity that has arisen out of the tragedy. People are determined not to do as the killers clearly wanted them to do - and abandon hope.
New anti-terrorist legislation is in place, tougher than ever, and it is part of the confidence-building process that the two governments are engaged in to show that they are serious about using it. The bombers must be found and their bomb-making capacity destroyed, or the threat of violence will continue to dog the politicians in their work of reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the first of many obstacles on the way to establishing a Northern Ireland executive and the North-South bodies has been overcome. David Trimble, as First Minister, has met Gerry Adams and the other party leaders, to decide how the present Northern Ireland departments will be reorganised, and on Thursday they meet one-to-one. Their differences over the formation of an executive are well known, one demanding real movement on decommissioning, as an essential part of the Agreement, and the other denying that he is under any obligation, beyond appointing Martin McGuinness to liaise with the decommissioning body.
The reality is that whatever interpretation is put on the Agreement, Mr Trimble would not have sufficient support in his party to proceed to form an executive and set up the All-Ireland Council without reaching some agreement on decommissioning within the two-year period. Mr Adams knows this as well as anyone, and must apply himself to a solution that would embrace loyalist as well as republican paramilitaries. Time is running out, but the politicians cannot allow themselves to be beaten at this crucial stage of an agonisingly long peace process.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0651
Published Date: 08-Sep-98
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.