IRA claims it has completely disarmed
Published 9:00 pm Sunday, September 25, 2005
BELFAST, Northern Ireland – The outlawed Irish Republican Army has fully disarmed, supervised by international weapons inspectors, an aide to the process’ monitor said Sunday.
The IRA permitted two independent witnesses, including a Methodist minister and a Roman Catholic priest close to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, to view the secret disarmament work conducted by officials from Canada, Finland and the United States, the aide to retired Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain said on condition of anonymity.
The office of de Chastelain, who in recent weeks has been in secret locations overseeing the weapons destruction, scheduled a news conference today in Belfast.
The aide said that the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning news conference would detail the scrapping of many tons of IRA weaponry this month at a confidential location in the Republic of Ireland.
Both witnesses – the Rev. Harold Good, a former president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, and the Rev. Alex Reid, a Catholic priest – also will state what they saw.
Statements from the British and Irish governments, Adams and the IRA’s command were expected within the next 24 hours.
“I am confident that tomorrow will bring the final chapter on the issue of IRA arms,” said Martin McGuinness, the deputy leader of the IRA-linked Sinn Fein who plans to travel Tuesday to Washington to seek U.S. political support for the IRA’s actions. “I believe that Ireland stands on the cusp of a truly historic advance, and I hope that people across the island will respond positively in the time ahead.”
The breakthrough should smash the biggest stumbling block in Northern Ireland’s peace process since Britain opened negotiations with Sinn Fein in December 1994.
Unfortunately, most politicians and analysts agree, the IRA move is coming years too late to kickstart the revival of a Roman Catholic-Protestant administration, the central dream of Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace accord. That complex, landmark agreement required the IRA to disarm by May 2000.
Years of denial and delay have sharpened Protestant distrust of Sinn Fein. Moderates willing to take risks were trounced in elections by hard-liners.
