Ógra Shinn Féin Demilitarisation Conference

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Saturday October 22, 2005 18:54 by Ógra B - Ógra Shinn Féin osf6county at yahoo dot com www.osfbf.pro.ie

Brits Out!

Ógra Shinn Féin have held a Demilitarisation conference in Omagh, today (22 / 10 /05

Ógra Shinn Féin have held a Demilitarisation conference in Omagh, today (22 / 10 /05).
Irish Republicans from all over Ireland attended the conference to discuss different strategies, which Republicans, young and old could use to guarantee that the British dismantle their war machine in Ireland.
Their conference kicked off early this morning with the Omagh Residents Demilitarisation Committee (ORDC) giving a PowerPoint presentation on the aims and objectives of their committee. The Demilitarisation committee is made up of residents who live in close vicinity to the Omagh British Army camp. They have recently gained the Support of Omagh District Council who backed their demands for Demilitarisation in the County Tyrone town.
Delegates to the conference were told that the British Army base in Omagh would close next August (2006). The actual base takes up 1/5 of the landmass of the Co. Tyrone town. The ORDC said that it was proud to be one of a number of groups, which have helped to bring about this situation.
However the question still remains over what will be done with the land, when the base is removed. A spokesperson for the ORDC stated “We believe that the site on which the British army base is presently sited should be handed back to the people of Omagh, when the British vacate the land next year. The huge land mass in question could be used to build much needed housing in the Omagh area or could be developed for the benefit of the community in Omagh, such as recreation and leisure facilities.”
Delegates at the conference were also divided into workshops where they forwarded their ideas on how the issue of demilitarisation should be tackled.
The conference ended shortly after 5:00pm with a guarantee from delegates not to let the issue of demilitarisation fade away until the British live up to their commitments and demilitarise the north of our country.