DISARM NOW: WE ARE SICK OF YOUR DIRTY LITTLE WAR
Disarm now: we're sick of your dirty little war
COMMENT SUNDAY, August 23, 1997
ARMS decommissioning must start - and start soon. That's the tragic lesson the slaughter in Omagh has taught us. Sinn Fein leaders chose biting words of condemnation. But words are no longer enough. They must be matched with action. And action means handing in Semtex and AK47s. For historic reasons, such a gesture may stick in the craw of the collective republican movement.
But that is an insulting and lame excuse for doing nothing, after what this province was forced to endure this week.
By all accounts, dissident republicans have been siphoning off supplies of arms and explosives, in preparation for the day when the ballot box would replace the Armalite. And the stark reality is that they will continue doing so as long as they have access to secret arms dumps.
They only sure way of preventing a repeat of the appalling scenes of last weekend, is for for loyalist and republican paramilitaries to hand in their weapons of destruction now. They have no place in the maturing political process.
Terrorists know that, which is why the INLA ended its campaign yesterday and set up lines of communication with the decommissioning body.
The people of Northern Ireland are crying out for movement on this front. Yesterday, tens of thousands of them stood shoulder to shoulder in silent memory of those who perished in Omagh. To the terrorists still armed to the teeth today, we say:
Look long and hard at those images - for these people want no more of your dirty war against men, women and children.
They're not pleading for peace. They're demanding it.
And you'll be damned to hell if you ignore their pleas, and risk a repeat of the carnage which was witnessed in Omagh last Saturday.
COMMENT SUNDAY, August 23, 1997
ARMS decommissioning must start - and start soon. That's the tragic lesson the slaughter in Omagh has taught us. Sinn Fein leaders chose biting words of condemnation. But words are no longer enough. They must be matched with action. And action means handing in Semtex and AK47s. For historic reasons, such a gesture may stick in the craw of the collective republican movement.
But that is an insulting and lame excuse for doing nothing, after what this province was forced to endure this week.
By all accounts, dissident republicans have been siphoning off supplies of arms and explosives, in preparation for the day when the ballot box would replace the Armalite. And the stark reality is that they will continue doing so as long as they have access to secret arms dumps.
They only sure way of preventing a repeat of the appalling scenes of last weekend, is for for loyalist and republican paramilitaries to hand in their weapons of destruction now. They have no place in the maturing political process.
Terrorists know that, which is why the INLA ended its campaign yesterday and set up lines of communication with the decommissioning body.
The people of Northern Ireland are crying out for movement on this front. Yesterday, tens of thousands of them stood shoulder to shoulder in silent memory of those who perished in Omagh. To the terrorists still armed to the teeth today, we say:
Look long and hard at those images - for these people want no more of your dirty war against men, women and children.
They're not pleading for peace. They're demanding it.
And you'll be damned to hell if you ignore their pleas, and risk a repeat of the carnage which was witnessed in Omagh last Saturday.
Further Information
Publisher: SUNDAY LIFE
Ref: SL/050
Published Date: 23-Aug-98
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