BLAIR BOWS TO UNIONIST PRESSURE

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday July 26, 2002 01:56 by McMean

On Wednesday, the British Prime Minister and his Secretary of State, John Reid, bowed to unionist pressure and told the House of Commons that "more rigorous standards" would be applied in future when the integrity of the IRA cessation was considered.

The British leaders made their statements just days after the UDA
shot dead Gerard Lawlor. This was the culmination of weeks of
UDA-organised attempted murders, of shootings, stabbings, petrol
and pipe bombings, arson, stoning, attacks by 50-strong mobs on
entire residential streets and the terrorising of Catholic
families out of their homes. There have been rampages through
schools, church burnings, violent attacks on ambulance crews
attending to injured civilians and masked and armed loyalist
paramilitaries issuing public death threats against Catholics.

Although he refrained from a total capitulation to David
Trimble's demands for sanctions against Sinn Fein, Tony Blair
nevertheless implied that such sanctions would be forthcoming if
the newly recalibrated British definition of ceasefire was to
held be breached by the IRA. He did not directly refer to the
UDA, which is not on ceasefire, nor indeed, the UVF, which has
repeatedly breached its ceasefire and whose political
representatives are in Stormont.

Responding, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams accused the British
government of failing to deal with the real crisis in the Six
Counties, which is the sustained and orchestrated campaign of
sectarian violence by loyalist groups, especially the UDA
campaign.

"Their comments do not address this dangerous situation," he
said. "The British government today also failed to assert the
primary responsibility of the First Minister to give leadership
at this difficult time against the loyalist death squads.

"We welcome the adoption of proposals to put in place a
communication network in interface areas. Sinn Fein made these
proposals to the two governments and the other parties a month
ago at Hillsborough. Despite a lobby by us, the British
government thus far have failed to make progress on this issue.

"What the vast majority of people who support the Good Friday
Agreement wanted and needed to hear this afternoon was the
assertion by the British government of the primacy of politics,
the protection and promotion of the Good Friday Agreement and
forthright opposition to sectarianism. We did not hear that
today.

"There is a concern that this manufactured crisis could continue.
The onus is on the British and Irish governments to ensure that
this does not happen.

The priority at this time has to be a united and unambiguous
opposition to sectarianism and the British and Irish government
and David Trimble, as First Minister, have a particular
responsibility in this regard and to the full implementation of
the Good Friday Agreement."

Clearly referring to the IRA in his Commons statement, the
British Prime Minister had said: "It should be clear that
paramilitary organisations are not engaged in any preparations
for terrorism and that they should be stood down altogether as
soon as possible. We have to be clear that preparations for
violence have also ceased."

In reviewing the ceasefires, he continued, the Secretary of State
will "give particular weight to any substantiated information
that a paramilitary organisation is engaged in training,
targeting, acquisition or development or arms or weapons or any
similar preparations for terrorist violence in Northern Ireland
or elsewhere. If there are in future such fundamental breaches of
the commitment to exclusively peaceful means, they will be taken
into account in assessing the ceasefires and it is right that
with the passage of time, these judgements should become
increasingly rigorous." So far, of course, "substantiated
information" includes unproven allegations by unionists and the
Crown forces about IRA involvement in Colombia and the
Castlereagh 'break-in'.

In a statement in which he also did not mention either the UDA or
the UVF, but in which he referred to the IRA five times,
Secretary of State Dr John Reid declared that "There can be no
acceptable or tolerable level of violence."

"In recent weeks and in particular over last weekend, we have
seen serious disturbances which have brought violence to the
streets of Belfast and elsewhere culminating in the appalling
murder of Gerard Lawlor by so-called loyalists on Monday morning.
This was not an isolated incident; over the previous 72 hours
there had been five attempted murders, eight shootings, and five
other violent attacks." He neglected to add that the UDA was
responsible for almost every one of these attacks.

And, despite all the evidence that the UDA operates with virtual
impunity, and that the RUC is routinely abandoning Catholic
communities to their fate at the hands of its mobs - the most
recent example being Skegoniel - Dr Reid claimed that "Security
forces are bearing down on the paramilitaries to deny them the
freedom to operate, to prevent murders, shootings, pipe and
petrol bomb attacks.

"Over 250 additional police officers and soldiers have been
brought in to dominate the interfaces in North Belfast. This
means more police and army resources are now deployed in north
Belfast than at any point since the beginning of the ceasefires."

But despite the huge disparity between the numbers of Catholics
and Protestants who have been the victims of sectarian attacks -
some 95% are Catholic - Reid said that 15 loyalists and 12
republicans had been charged with public order offences arising
out of the recent disturbances.

Reid also announced that he is considering providing the RUC/PSNI
with additional powers. "I have asked the Attorney General to
lead an examination of police powers, bail arrangements and the
scope for additional criminal offences. He will also examine
whether there are any changes in the criminal law which could be
made to facilitate successful prosecution for acts of terrorism,
violence and organised crime. All this would complement the
enhanced activity of the police and the army.

"It is now four and a half years since the second IRA ceasefire"
he continued. "The ceasefires have made a huge contribution to
political progress in Northern Ireland in addition to reducing
the appalling human cost of the conflict."

"The recent statement by IRA was a welcome step in the right
direction, but it is simply not enough for paramilitary
organisations on ceasefires to have brought an end to their
terrorist campaigns. Whatever their real intentions, and in the
case of the IRA I share the assessment that they have never been
further away from a return to their campaign, nevertheless
nothing can be more damaging than the sense that the options were
being kept open in this way.

"The judgements I make about ceasefires have to be made in the
round, taking account of all relevant factors, including those
which the statute obliges me to take into account. This is what I
will continue to do. But with the passage of time, it is right
that these judgements should become increasingly rigorous. In
reviewing the ceasefires, I will give particular weight to any
substantiated information that a paramilitary organisation is
engaged in training, targeting, acquisition or development of
arms or weapons or any similar preparations for a terrorist
campaign in Northern Ireland or elsewhere."

Speaking on at a press conference on Tuesday, Gerry Adams had
criticised the fact that the British government was focusing on
the IRA when loyalists were engaging in a "killing spree".

Adams warned that republican confidence in the Agreement was
waning because of the focus on the IRA and because of the
loyalist campaign of violence.

Wednesday's events at Westminster, he said, whilst totally
unacceptable, were "a surreal side-show because those living in
the interface areas will find it crazy that the Prime Minister is
zeroing in on republicans when they are victims of a loyalist
campaign."

Speaking after Blair's and Reid's respective statements on
Wednesday, Sinn Fein's Mitchell McLaughlin said that the British
government had missed an opportunity to address the real crisis
confronting the peace process; "the ongoing, and ongoing for some
considerable time now, campaign against Catholics and the
Catholic community".

He added that more emphasis should have been placed on the
leadership role of the First Minister and on the primacy of
politics. "We had hoped to see much more substance in both
statements addressing that issue" he said. "This is about
leadership and if there is drift within the unionist community -
and that has to be contrasted with the strong support for the
peace process within the broad nationalist community - then it is
a question of leadership. Sinn Fein would hope that we would see
a response, which we would be prepared to be a part of. We want
to work with David Trimble in managing this political process and
dealing with the genuine issues of concern and misunderstanding
which arise in any process of conflict resolution."

The British government's statements did not appear to satisfy
unionists, and Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble expressed
disappointment. He said Dr Reid's statement appeared to be
"feeling its way" towards a more rigorous approach towards the
IRA ceasefire.

"Unfortunately, John Reid was not clear enough and explicit
enough in that. I think there is a need in the coming weeks for
the Government to spell out clearly what this statement really
means," he said.

Hardline unionists urged Trimble to move immediately to exclude
Sinn Fein from the power sharing government this evening.

Democratic Unionist Assembly member Ian Paisley Junior accused
the British Government of letting the IRA off the hook.

"The ball is now in the court of the UUP camp," the North Antrim
MLA said.

"They must now join with the DUP in an exclusion motion of Sinn
Fein/IRA. The Assembly should be recalled to do this and we await
Mr Trimble's support for this action."