Bomb rattles fragile peace in Ulster

IRVINESTOWN (NORTHERN IRELAND), FEB. 7. Northern Ireland's bitterly divided parties united today in condemning a bomb attack that rattled the British province's already fragile peace process.

The attack last evening came as the region sank into a deepening crisis over the refusal of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to hand in the weapons it used to wage 30 years of guerilla war against British rule. No one was injured in the blast at a hotel in the rural community of Irvinestown in County Fermanagh, but the bombing was seen as a violent attempt by renegade Republican guerillas to derail a 22-month-old peace accord.

``I want to reiterate that I unequivocally condemn this attack,'' Mr. Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, told reporters in Belfast late yesterday. ``The people involved are not acting in the interests of Irish Republicanism. They are not representative of any real section of the Irish people and they should disband.'' Police said a number of warning calls were received from a person purporting to be from the Continuity IRA, a Republican splinter group. The bomb exploded at about 12.50 a.m. (GMT) after police had evacuated about 80 people from the hotel. ``Had the evacuation not been so prompt I fear that there would have been fatalities,'' the police superintendent, Mr. Jonathan McIvor told reporters.

The Irish Prime Minister, Mr. Bertie Ahern condemned the attack and Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr. Peter Mandelson said it was ``not just wrong - it is against the democratically expressed wishes of the people''.

The Continuity IRA is the only Republican militia which has refused to call a ceasefire to match those of the mainstream IRA and their foes in pro-British Loyalist groups. Wrangling over the IRA's refusal to shed arms, despite its halting of anti-British hostilities in July 1997, has brought political progress to a standstill.

Britain threatens to suspend the province's home-rule Government, which involves Sinn Fein and pro-British Unionists, on Friday if the IRA does not make a gesture on arms. Yesterday, the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair appealed to both sides to do their utmost for the people of Northern Ireland. ``If we let this chance for peace go...Then we will have failed the people that we serve,'' he said. ``That would be the biggest betrayal of all.'' A fragile peace has reigned since the Good Friday peace accord of April 1998, punctuated by sporadic attacks including a bombing by the Real IRA splinter group which killed 29 civilians in Omagh in August 1998 and several murders by Loyalist groups.

Yesterday's blast was an ugly reminder of a past that the province's peace process has been aiming to eradicate. ``If anything, tonight's explosion vindicates those of us who believe - not just the Ulster Unionists - that disarmament is an absolute necessity,'' Mr. Ken Maginnis, the Unionist Member of Parliament for the area, told reporters. Witnesses reported hearing a loud bang and seeing flames and flying debris. As darkness fell, British army trucks and armed soldiers were in position, cordoning off the hotel. ``I can't understand why this place has been targeted,'' said Mr. Joe Mahon, one of the family that owns the hotel. ``It is a place which both Protestants and Catholics frequent.''

- Reuters

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Section  : International
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