BLATANT THREAT OF IRA RETURN TO WAR
Blatant threat' of IRA return to war
Unionists and Alliance accuse SF chairman
By MERVYN PAULEY
A NEW decommissioning' storm erupted yesterday even as Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern vowed to keep working to settle outstanding problems in the peace process.
The two Prime Ministers reviewed the situation at an EU summit in Bonn while in Northern Ireland Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin was accused of issuing a "blatant threat" of an IRA return to war.
He warned that the IRA should not be forced to hand over arms and that pushing them too far could de-stabilise their leadership, with unforeseen consequences.
Two senior Ulster Unionists, Michael McGimpsey and Sir Reg Empey, slammed the remarks which conflict with the party's call for a credible start to decommissioning before Sinn Fein can take its seats in government.
Alliance also hit out, with party president Dr Philip McGarry describing the Sinn Fein line as "tantamount to blackmail".
In Australia, Gerry Adams also upped the ante, telling London it must move quickly towards setting up - and devolving power to - the shadow executive, the all-Ireland Council and other institutions agreed under the Good Friday Agreement.
Any other outcome will be a clear breach of the Agreement and a betrayal of the 73 per cent of people who voted 'yes' in last May's referendum," he claimed in Sydney.
A failure to transfer power would seriously erode confidence in the peace process, he added.
Mr McGimpsey, the UUP Assembly group's security spokesman, accused Mr McLaughlin of engaging in threats against the people of Northern Ireland.
Society, he insisted, could not tolerate the "intransigent refusal" of republicans and loyalists to start shedding their arms.
He asked: "How can Mitchel McLaughlin assure the people of Omagh that there will never be another atrocity like theirs when republican terrorists have ready access to Semtex, detonators and machine guns?
"Why does the IRA need these weapons if the war is over? There cannot be an armed peace. To retain illegal weapons is to retain an indefinite threat against all the people across the British Isles.
"It is time for the paramilitaries to stop delaying the inevitable and deliver on what they agreed to last year."
Sir Reg said that what Mr McLaughlin was doing with his threats was calling into question Sinn Fein's commitment to exclusively peaceful and non-violent means.
"The same type of language was used before the Canary Wharf bomb. Whenever republicans find themselves 'in crisis', it's code for going back to what they know best.
"The maintenance of a fully operational paramilitary organisation constitutes a threat by any stretch of the imagination."
Mr McLaughlin said: "Those who have focused on decommissioning and who are now demanding prior decommissioning before we move into setting up the executive are reneging on the Good Friday Agreement.
"By the time those people realise that the IRA are not going to be forced to decommission, they will, in the meantime, have irreparably damaged the Agreement."
But Sir Reg countered: "If that is the case, how are they going to have decommissioning completed by May 2000? That's their obligation under the Agreement and Mr Mallon says he will throw them out if they have not met their obligation by then."
The UUP man claimed there was a national and international consensus that decommissioning should take place as soon as possible.
"It's now or never", he said. "If they get into government now without decommissioning, we will hear these siren voices in a year's time, telling us decommissioning is still not possible."
Dr McGarry said: "There is no excuse whatsoever for Sinn Fein to play cynical games with the political process by threatening us all with a return to violence if republicans don't get their own way."
Meanwhile, Mr Blair and Mr Ahern described their talks on the fringe of the EU financial summit as useful.
Mr Blair said: "We both agreed that it is tremendously important to keep up the pressure for all aspects of the Agreement to be implemented.
"It is what the people of Northern Ireland want. It's what we want and it's what, I believe, every sensible person in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and Britain is committed to."
Mr Ahern told reporters: "The important thing for us is that no more time is lost. We have set ourselves a target of making sure during the month of March we can control the central aspects.
Unionists and Alliance accuse SF chairman
By MERVYN PAULEY
A NEW decommissioning' storm erupted yesterday even as Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern vowed to keep working to settle outstanding problems in the peace process.
The two Prime Ministers reviewed the situation at an EU summit in Bonn while in Northern Ireland Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin was accused of issuing a "blatant threat" of an IRA return to war.
He warned that the IRA should not be forced to hand over arms and that pushing them too far could de-stabilise their leadership, with unforeseen consequences.
Two senior Ulster Unionists, Michael McGimpsey and Sir Reg Empey, slammed the remarks which conflict with the party's call for a credible start to decommissioning before Sinn Fein can take its seats in government.
Alliance also hit out, with party president Dr Philip McGarry describing the Sinn Fein line as "tantamount to blackmail".
In Australia, Gerry Adams also upped the ante, telling London it must move quickly towards setting up - and devolving power to - the shadow executive, the all-Ireland Council and other institutions agreed under the Good Friday Agreement.
Any other outcome will be a clear breach of the Agreement and a betrayal of the 73 per cent of people who voted 'yes' in last May's referendum," he claimed in Sydney.
A failure to transfer power would seriously erode confidence in the peace process, he added.
Mr McGimpsey, the UUP Assembly group's security spokesman, accused Mr McLaughlin of engaging in threats against the people of Northern Ireland.
Society, he insisted, could not tolerate the "intransigent refusal" of republicans and loyalists to start shedding their arms.
He asked: "How can Mitchel McLaughlin assure the people of Omagh that there will never be another atrocity like theirs when republican terrorists have ready access to Semtex, detonators and machine guns?
"Why does the IRA need these weapons if the war is over? There cannot be an armed peace. To retain illegal weapons is to retain an indefinite threat against all the people across the British Isles.
"It is time for the paramilitaries to stop delaying the inevitable and deliver on what they agreed to last year."
Sir Reg said that what Mr McLaughlin was doing with his threats was calling into question Sinn Fein's commitment to exclusively peaceful and non-violent means.
"The same type of language was used before the Canary Wharf bomb. Whenever republicans find themselves 'in crisis', it's code for going back to what they know best.
"The maintenance of a fully operational paramilitary organisation constitutes a threat by any stretch of the imagination."
Mr McLaughlin said: "Those who have focused on decommissioning and who are now demanding prior decommissioning before we move into setting up the executive are reneging on the Good Friday Agreement.
"By the time those people realise that the IRA are not going to be forced to decommission, they will, in the meantime, have irreparably damaged the Agreement."
But Sir Reg countered: "If that is the case, how are they going to have decommissioning completed by May 2000? That's their obligation under the Agreement and Mr Mallon says he will throw them out if they have not met their obligation by then."
The UUP man claimed there was a national and international consensus that decommissioning should take place as soon as possible.
"It's now or never", he said. "If they get into government now without decommissioning, we will hear these siren voices in a year's time, telling us decommissioning is still not possible."
Dr McGarry said: "There is no excuse whatsoever for Sinn Fein to play cynical games with the political process by threatening us all with a return to violence if republicans don't get their own way."
Meanwhile, Mr Blair and Mr Ahern described their talks on the fringe of the EU financial summit as useful.
Mr Blair said: "We both agreed that it is tremendously important to keep up the pressure for all aspects of the Agreement to be implemented.
"It is what the people of Northern Ireland want. It's what we want and it's what, I believe, every sensible person in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and Britain is committed to."
Mr Ahern told reporters: "The important thing for us is that no more time is lost. We have set ourselves a target of making sure during the month of March we can control the central aspects.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/212
Published Date: 27-Feb-99
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