The Hindu : Blair asks Sinn Fein chief to rein in IRA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002

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International

Blair asks Sinn Fein chief to rein in IRA

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JUNE 10. With fresh violence breaking out in Belfast, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, today held talks with the Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams, amid allegations of the IRA's involvement in many of the disturbances that have taken place in the past week.

The meeting at Downing Street came hours after east Belfast was hit by another wave of bomb explosions, arson and attacks on security forces. Troops were deployed after a mob went on the rampage, torching cars and throwing petrol bombs. One police officer was taken to hospital with facial burns. Trouble was also reported from south Belfast with rival loyalist and nationalist groups fighting pitched battles until early in the morning.

At his meeting with Mr. Adams, the Prime Minister voiced the Government's concern over the deteriorating situation in Northern Ireland and its impact on the fragile peace process. More specifically, Mr. Adams was told to rein in the IRA whose alleged involvement in the recent violence has prompted Unionists to question the paramilitary group's commitment to the Good Friday Agreement which binds it to a permanent ceasefire.

The Blair Government is under pressure from Unionists to take a tough stand on the issue saying that the IRA's actions are not consistent with the fact that its political wing, the Sinn Fein, is a constituent of Northern Ireland's coalition government. David Trimble, chief of the Ulster Unionist Party and First Minister of the provincial government, had a tense meeting with Mr. Blair a few days ago where he complained that the IRA was in breach of the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr. Trimble accused the Blair Government of not doing enough to halt sectarian violence in Northern Ireland despite the fact, he claimed, that the identity of those behind it was known. "It's being organised primarily by the Provisional IRA and leading members of the Provisionals have been involved in fomenting trouble.."

Mr. Adams has called for restraint on both sides while his more outspoken republican colleagues have blamed the violence on loyalist paramilitary outfits. Security forces have accused armed gangs belonging to both communities — republicans and loyalists — of disrupting peace ahead of the upcoming marching season which is invariably marked by clashes.

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