International

`IRA part of terror network'

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON APRIL 24 . In yet another politically embarrassing development for the republican movement in Northern Ireland, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has been accused by a U.S. Congressional committee of promoting terrorism as part of a global network.

The committee's report follows a nine-month investigation into IRA's links with Colombian extremists in the wake of the arrest of three alleged IRA activists in a rebel-held territory in Colombia. They were charged with training the Revolutionary Armed forces of Colombia (Farc), a guerilla group fighting the Colombian Government.

Sinn Fein, political wing of the IRA, has denied the charges and its leader, Gerry Adams, has declined to appear before another Congressional committee to answer questions about the alleged IRA suspects. He has said that the hearings might be used by his opponents to discredit the republican movement and undermine the Northern Ireland peace process. "Irish republicans pose no threat to national security interests in Colombia (and)...Sinn Fein is also implacably opposed to international terrorism," he said.The British media today highlighted the report linking the IRA with global terrorist links. "Colombia is a potential breeding ground for international terror equalled perhaps only by Afghanistan, and the IRA findings are the strongest among these global links because of the arrests of the three Irish nationals and the accompanying evidence," it said. It also hinted at an axis of extremist groups, including Iranians, Cubans and possibly the Basque separatist movement, ETA.

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