The Hindu : IRA re-arming itself, says report

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 22, 2002

International

International

IRA re-arming itself, says report

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON APRIL 21. A new controversy cast its shadow over the Northern Ireland peace process today following reports that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was "secretly re-arming" itself even as publicly it is in the process of giving up its weapons in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement.

The disclosure that it bought a consignment of sophisticated Russian rifles from private sources in Moscow late last year came a day after the police claimed that they had seized an IRA "hit" list containing names of leading British political leaders, including two former Prime Ministers — Margaret Thatcher and John Major. The Sunday Telegraph which broke the arms-purchase story called it the "most damning evidence to date that the IRA is continuing to build up a huge arsenal" despite its two highly publicised acts of decommissioning. The last took place just a week ago.

The newspaper said the deal was discovered by Russian security services who tipped off the British Government. It claimed that it got the information from "military intelligence officers in London" and quoted an unnamed officer as saying that the weapons were intended to ensure that the IRA continued to be a "well-oiled machine".

The First Minister of the Northern Ireland executive, David Trimble, said it could be a "defining moment" for the peace process as pressure mounted on him to impose sanctions against Sinn Fein, the IRA's political arm and a key constituent of the ruling coalition. Hardliners within Mr. Trimble's own Ulster Unionist Party (UPP) demanded Sinn Fein's expulsion from the Government, or at the least, restrictions on their executive powers.

But even as he urged restraint saying full facts needed to be established first, Mr. Trimble made clear that the British Government must act if the IRA was found to be in breach of the ceasefire to which it had agreed under the Good Friday Agreement. His party, he warned, would not tolerate those who were not genuinely committed to the peace process.

The Conservatives were more vocal in their criticism and the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Quentin Davies, said the peace process had been reduced to a "sham" with the IRA "handing in weapons with one hand and buying them again with the other." The hawkish Ulster Democratic Unionist Party, which is opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, said the latest disclosure was "clear evidence" that the IRA was not on ceasefire. A party leader demanded Sinn Fein's exclusion from the Government. Sinn Fein has dismissed the negative reports about the IRA as part of an "anti-peace process agenda".

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