Onerous task awaits arms monitors

By Thomas Abraham

LONDON, MAY. 15. The two international figures who will inspect the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) arms dumps, the former Finnish President, Mr. Martti Ahtisaari and the former African National Congress general secretary, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, arrived in Britain for a series of meetings ahead of their first visit to Northern Ireland.

Mr. Martin McGuiness, a senior leader of the IRA's political wing Sinn Fein, confirmed that as far as his organisation was concerned the arms inspections would go ahead as planned. ``Absolutely, I think it must,'' he said in a television interview. Mr. Ahtisaari and Mr. Ramaphosa will play a key role in ensuring the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement by inspecting IRA weapons dumps and certifying that the weapons and ammunition in them are not being used. The terms of the peace agreement require the IRA and other paramilitary organisations to decommission their weapons. The earlier intransigence on the part of the IRA on the decommissioning issue led to the Stormont Assembly getting suspended. The Republican group has now agreed to place its arms in sealed dumps under the IRA control which will be routinely inspected by the two well-known international figures. This compromise on the part of the IRA is expected to pave the way for permanent peace in Northern Ireland, provided the main Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists accept it. The party's ruling council is to meet on Saturday to decide its policy but the party is clearly divided. Its leader, Mr. David Trimble, said he had not yet decided what recommendation to put to the party council and that he was still waiting for ``clarifications'' on the IRA's arms offer. Mr. Trimble is believed to have asked for clarifications on whether all the IRA's weapons will be placed in these dumps and how exactly they will be sealed. He also said he was waiting for certain assurances from the British Government over the future of Northern Ireland's police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

The Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr. Peter Mandelson suspended the Stormont Assembly this January to pre-empt a resignation by Mr. Trimble who threatened to pull out his party from the local Government if the IRA did not begin to decommission. The Sinn Fein and the Irish Republic were upset with Mr. Mandelson for his unilateral decision. The impasse was broken after the British and Irish Prime Ministers unveiled a package which would see the IRA placing its weapons in arms dumps to be monitored at regular intervals. The IRA and Sinn Fein have acccepted this plan and if the Ulster Unionists do the same, Northern Ireland's power- sharing government will be restored next Monday.

Opinion polls show that the majority of Ulster Unionists members and supporters are in favour of accepting the deal and restarting the provincial government. But there are influential hardliners within the party opposed to the deal and to the peace agreement itself who could topple the deal. Mr. Trimble recently survived a leadership challege from the hardliners and has limited room for manouevre. For its part, Sinn Fein has said that the IRA will go ahead with its promise even if the Ulster Unionists reject it and the Northern Ireland Government is not restored. ``Everybody knows that if the IRA makes a statement, they will make it happen,'' Mr. McGuiness said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ahtisaari and Mr. Ramaphosa are due to arrive in Belfast after meetings in London with the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair and Mr. Mandelson. They are expected to clarify details of the role they will play before getting down to inspecting weapons dumps. The IRA's main weapons stocks are believed to be concealed in weapons dumps in the rural parts of Ireland.

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Section  : International
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