From: "Stasi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
R
Subject: [Peoples War] Sinn Fein: AP/RN 18-20 Sept 2001

    IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
    http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
    
    Tuesday-Thursday, 18-20 September, 2001


1.  IRA ARMS MOVE WELCOMED, BUT PROBLEMS REMAIN
2.  Appeal for Holy Cross dialogue met with bricks and abuse
3.  Activist escapes Ballycastle bomb
4.  Campaign for Colombia Three launched
5.  Evidence mounts of Bloody Sunday gunfire from Derry's walls
6.  Oversight Commissioner's role 'reduced and weakened'
7.  Judgment reserved in Gildernew election case
8.  34th Turkish hunger striker dies
9.  Feature: Lifting the lid on depression
10. Analysis: IRA move demands mature response
 
 
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>>>>>> IRA ARMS MOVE WELCOMED, BUT PROBLEMS REMAIN
 
 
 In its latest move to bolster the shaky peace process in the
 North of Ireland, the IRA has confirmed that its representative
 will intensify engagement with the Independent International
 Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) "with a view to accelerating
 progress towards the comprehensive resolution of this issue".
 
 Unionist ultimatums on IRA decommissioning have slowed and
 stalled peace moves in Ireland for several years, and Ulster
 Unionist leader David Trimble is once again refusing to operate
 the 1998 Good Friday Agreement unless his demands are met.
 
 Following Trimble's resignation as First Minister in July, a
 second deadline for the selection of a new First Minister looms
 this weekend. In the likely eventuality that the deadlock over
 arms and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement is not
 resolved by then, further damage to the political process will
 result.
 
 The form of the political turmoil lies in the hands of the
 British Secretary of State, John Reid.  By law, a fresh election
 to the Belfast Assembly is required -- although Reid is instead
 expected to again suspend the North's political institutions
 and reimpose Direct Rule from London.  The suspension must be for
 an indefinite period -- although under a legislative loophole it
 could last as little as 24 hours, allowing for six more weeks of
 talks.
 
 But after unionists dismissed the IRA's unprecedented initiative
 for putting arms beyond use last month, it is difficult to see
 how a resolution of the stalemate can be found.
 
 The IICD decommissioning body confirmed that the scheme met its
 requirements, but David Trimble flatly rejected and contradicted
 the commission's considered determination.
 
 In its statement this week, the IRA pointed out its agreement of
 a scheme with the IICD had "involved considerable problems for us
 and for our organisation".
 
 But its efforts to advance the process had been "completely
 undermined" by the setting of further preconditions and the
 outright rejection of the IICD statement by the Ulster Unionist
 party leadership.
 
 "Subsequent actions by the British government, including a
 continued failure to fulfil its commitments, removed the
 conditions necessary for progress."
 
 The IRA said future progress would be "directly influenced by the
 attitude of other parties to the peace process - especially the
 British Government."
 
 Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams MP welcomed the IRA's statement,
 and insisted that while there are many difficulties, it remained
 his firm view that none of these matters are intractable.
 
 "What is required is focused political action," he said.
 
 "I agree with the IRA when they assert that peace making is a
 collective responsibility. This has been the lesson of successful
 peace processes and regrettably also of those that have failed.
 
 "This issue of weapons should never have been allowed to become a
 pre-condition or a blockage on the rights and entitlements of
 citizens. It must be resolved politically."

 An Irish government spokesman welcomed the IRA statement of
 re-engagement with the commission, adding: "We look forward to an
 early and comprehensive resolution of the arms issue through that
 engagement."
 
 But the noises from the unionist side have been wholly negative.
 David Trimble said te IRA had no credibility, while his colleague
 Jeffrey Donaldson MP warned his party might pull out of the
 executive if the British and Irish governments were to suspend
 the North's political institutions for just one day.
 
 The anti-agreement MP said his party would not tolerate a second
 one-day suspension if the IRA failed to disarm by Saturday
 midnight -- and he also insisted that elected Sinn Fein Ministers
 be kept out of office.
 
 He said the UUP "must stand up for the democratic process" and in
 the event of a one-day suspension would withdraw from the
 power-sharing executive to deny "representatives of terror" a
 place in government.
 
 
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>>>>>> Appeal for Holy Cross dialogue met with bricks and abuse
 
 
 Little girls cowered in terror as Catholic children have once
 again been caught up in a wave of loyalist sectarian hatred in
 north Belfast.
 
 Adverse media coverage moderated the tactics of the participants
 in the blockade but the ordeal of walking through a hostile and
 unpredictable crowd along a route lined with military hardware
 continues. Despite calls for an immediate end to the loyalist
 blockade of the school in the wake of the attacks in America, the
 Glenbryn residents insisted that their protest would continue.
 
 Less than 24 hours after the US outrages, loyalist respect for
 anything other than their own sense of grievance was far from
 evident. "Now the Americans have their own problems, there will
 be no more money for you Fenian bastards," shouted some of the
 crowd as parents returned from leaving their children to school.
 Whistles and horns were blown.
 
 "The strength and intensity of abuse was very disappointing
 especially in the aftermath of the American tragedy," said local
 priest Fr. Aidan Troy. "There were also threats to some of the
 parents that they were known and would be shot," he said. "If we
 are going to teach children to live in a peaceful society, we
 have to stand up against intimidation."
 
 Fresh trouble flared in Ardoyne yesterday after parents and
 children were subjected to a barrage of abuse as they made the
 return journey from the Holy Cross School yesterday afternoon.
 
 The protest turned nasty when loyalists sang The Sash, hurled
 sectarian abuse and shouted insults about IRA hunger striker
 Bobby Sands.
 
 Parents and terrified children were then forced to dive for cover
 to escape a rain of bricks and stones. One photographer was
 injured in the attack.
 
 The blockade resumed on Monday morning with over a hundred
 loyalists carrying flags and banners confronting Holy Cross
 pupils as they walked to school with their parents. No longer
 caught in the glare of global media attention, the RUC moved to
 curtail international scrutiny even further by refusing access to
 human rights observers who had been accompanying parents and
 pupils to and from Holy Cross School.
 
 "Given the depth of human rights abuse surrounding this dispute,
 the role of international observers in this situation is
 absolutely crucial," said local councillor Margaret McClenaghan.
 
 In a statement last night the Concerned Residents of Upper
 Ardoyne (CRUA) "suspended all business until further notice" -
 prompting fears of renewed trouble.
 
 The announcement came a short time after it emerged that CRUA
 member Jim Potts would face public order charges later today in
 relation to the loyalist protests.
 
 The arrest of Potts and six others yesterday morning came as
 tensions escalated in the "corridor of hate" to the school, which
 is located just inside a loyalist estate.
 
 Parents and nationalist politicians have expressed their mounting
 dismay at the situation.
 
 One woman, whose six and 10-year-old girls attend the Holy Cross
 said: "They (loyalists) just don't want to talk.
 
 "All this is terrible on the kids. They are having nightmares and
 getting up in the morning not wanting to go to school."
 
 Brendan Mailey of the Right to Education Group (REG) accused
 protesters of "using the children" as a bargaining tool in any
 negotiations.
 
 "They are trying to up the ante -- make it more dangerous, more
 intimidating and more frightening for the kids," he said.
 
 He described a meeting on the issue with the British Secretary of
 State as "low key". "John Reid accepted that face to face talks
 were the only way forward," he said.
 
 "The residents of Glenbryn are caught in a contradiction of their
 own making," says Brendan Mailey. "On the one hand they claim
 that they are protesting because no one will listen to them but
 on the other hand they are refusing to talk."
 
 Gerry Kelly, Sinn Fein assembly member for North Belfast said:
 "There has been abuse given out, people standing in Paisley masks
 and abusing the parents and frightening the children. If they
 don't want to talk we are not going to be able to settle this."
 
 He pointed out that an #8.7 million investment announced by
 Social Development Minister Maurice Morrow for the Glenbryn area
 this week will be perceived as a reward for bigotry.
 
 There are a number of areas in North Belfast that urgently need
 investment and regeneration. Glenbryn is just one of a number of
 areas which includes Ardoyne, Ligonel, the New Lodge, Bawnmore
 and Whitewell.
 
 "The fact that three out of four areas in North Belfast approved
 by DUP Minister Maurice Morrow for the urban renewal scheme are
 loyalist, challenges the minister's announcement that this will
 send a "positive message to everyone" in North Belfast.
 
 
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>>>>>> Activist escapes Ballycastle bomb
 
 
 
 A bomb found under the car of a Sinn Fein worker in Ballycastle,
 North Antrim, on Wednesday, "was placed there in an
 attempt to kill a Sinn Fein activist", said party councillor for
 Dunloy, Philip McGuigan.
 
 McGuigan said the man discovered the device under his car, which
 was parked outside his Stroneshesk Road home, at 11.10am on
 Wednesday morning.
 
 "This is the third time the man has been targeted by loyalists,"
 added McGuigan. "In the first attack he was shot at in his car
 and on another occasion his home was bombed. Due to the previous
 attacks, the man checks his car in the morning and this could
 have saved his life this morning. This is the second time in
 recent weeks that Ballycastle has been targeted and I would call
 on all nationalists to be vigilant."
 
 A petrol-bomb attack in Lisburn at the weekend has left the
 kitchen of a house in the County Antrim town extensively damaged
 after the petrol bomb exploded in the room.
 
 It is understood the incident which took place at Donard Drive in
 the Toagh area of Co Antrim, occurred just before 11pm on
 Saturday night.
 
 Meanwhile, there are fears of a rekindled loyalist feud in
 Portadown after a man escaped injury in a gun attack this week.
 The attack on the loyalist Killycomaine estate is understood to
 be connected with the feud between the UVF and LVF.
 

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>>>>>> Campaign for Colombia Three launched
 
 
 
 World-renowned balladeer Christy Moore played a special concert
 on Monday nightto launch a campaign for the return of the three
 Irishmen currently being held without charge by the Colombian
 government.
 
 The campaign, called simply 'Bring Them Home', is led by the
 families of the three men and supported by Sinn Fein, Green Party
 MEP Patricia McKenna and TD John Gormley and Socialist Party TD,
 Joe Higgins, amongst others.
 
 Moore, who played many of his older tunes on the night, said that
 he had been angered at the media response to the arrests. Knowing
 two of the accused men, he said, he was outraged at comments made
 by Irish Times security correspondent Jim Cusack in relation to
 their arrests. Much of the media commentary had amounted to
 hysteria, he said.
 
 This media response, along with other factors outlined in a
 leaflet produced by the families, poses a serious threat to the
 men's prospects of a fair trial.
 
 "Given the publicity in Colombia, Ireland and Britain following
 their arrests and the serious unsubstantiated allegations made by
 political and media commentators, their families do not believe
 they can obtain a fair legal process," the campaign leaflet
 states.
 
 Among the unsubstantiated allegations referred to were claims
 that the men had traces of drugs and bomb-making material on
 their clothes, that they had been videotaped training Colombian
 FARC guerillas and that they had been formally charged - all
 allegations made by the Colombian government, all later
 retracted. Other allegations, again unsubstantiated, that emerged
 in ensuing media reports, ranged from claims that the three were
 involved in drug-trafficking to making napalm bombs. The family
 argue that such allegations will inevitably prejudice the legal
 process.
 
 The families also draw attention to the refusal to allow the men
 consult with their legal representatives to prepare a defence, as
 they are being cooped up in a four-metre square cell for 23 hours
 a day. The dangers of Colombian jails are well documented also by
 Amnesty International.
 
 Campaigners are now calling on the Dublin government, the EU,
 Irish political parties, human rights and church groups and
 individuals of all political and religious persuasions, and none,
 to call for the immediate release of the three on humanitarian
 grounds.
 
 You can contact the Bring Them Home campaign at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 

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>>>>>> Evidence mounts of Bloody Sunday gunfire from Derry's walls
 
 
 Testimony by several witnesses yesterday added to the
 accumulating evidence of intensive gunfire on Bloody Sunday from
 the Derry Walls, where British soldiers were stationed
 overlooking the Bogside.
 
 Ms Teresa Cassidy said there was a heavy concentration of
 shooting as she threw herself to the ground at Free Derry Corner,
 and she believed the bullets were being fired from the walls. "I
 saw the bullets actually bouncing off the ground in front of me."
 
 Some time later, at about 4.40 p.m., as she and members of her
 family made their way to their car along an alleyway underneath
 the walls, she again saw bullets bounce off the ground.
 
 "The shots were definitely being fired from the direction of the
 Derry Walls," she asserted.
 
 Mr John McLaughlin said he threw himself to the ground when he
 heard the first live firing. He realised immediately that it came
 from the left and from a height in front of him.
 
 "I realised in that split second that the fire had come from the
 city walls," he said. "I was lying in gravel with my face on the
 ground and I could see the walls in front of me, but I couldn't
 see any movement on them . . . I didn't understand what was
 happening, but I knew that the [British] army was on the walls
 shooting, everyone knew it."
 
 Mr McLaughlin said he believed the firing of the first shots from
 the walls was prearranged. Those shots, he asserted, "signalled
 for the troops on the ground at Rossville Street to open up on
 the crowd".
 
 Mr Sean McDermott described how he was totally absorbed trying to
 assist the dying Hugh Gilmore near the gable end wall of
 Rossville Flats. "Whilst attending (to him) I was oblivious to
 everything else that was happening around me. I had not even
 heard any gunfire," he said.
 
 The next thing he remembered was looking up and seeing another
 man lying a few feet away. This man, Barney McGuigan, had a wound
 on his head and blood was gushing from it.
 
 "I have a vivid memory of the smell of cordite from the gunfire,
 mixed with the smell of blood as it pumped out of his body," said
 the witness. "It is a smell that I can still remember."
 
 
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>>>>>> Oversight Commissioner's role 'reduced and weakened'
 
 
 
 A Sinn Fein delegation led by party spokesperson on policing,
 Gerry Kelly, met with Tom Constantine, the Oversight Commissioner
 for policing, last Friday, 14 September. Also present from the
 party were Alex Maskey and Michelle Gildernew.
 
 The meeting took place in advance of the release of the Second
 Oversight Commissioners report into the implementation of the
 Patten Report on Wednesday, 19 September.
 
 Speaking after the launch of the report on Wednesday Kelly said
 the meeting had been "useful and constructive", But he added that
 the British government's Policing Act "reduces and weakens the
 role and remit of the Oversight Commissioner set out by the
 Patten Commission.
 
 "The Patten Commission was clear that it's 175 recommendations
 should 'be implemented comphrensively and faithfully' and that
 the Oversight Commissioner should be the mechanism 'to assure the
 community that all aspects of the [Patten] report are being
 implemented and being seen to be implemented'."
 
 Kelly said the British had deliberately undermined the role and
 diluted the remit of the Oversight Commission with its flawed
 Police Act.
 
 "At this juncture no one is claiming that we have the required
 new beginning. Not even the British government. All accept that
 there is a gap to be closed. The role and remit of the Oversight
 Commissioner as prescribed by the British government is clearly
 part of the gap," said Kelly.
 
 "The terms of reference task the Oversight Commissioner to
 oversee the operation of the Police Act rather than the full
 implementation of the Patten recommendations. The Act diverges
 from Patten in so many respects that the Commissioner clearly
 cannot implement the Patten Commission's recommendations.
 
 "The Oversight Commissioner has no powers of direction. Action
 which would involve legislative change to the police act to bring
 it into line with Patten remains entirely at the discretion of
 the British Secretary of State and the RUC Chief Constable.
 
 "As a consequence of all this, the Oversight Commissioner has no
 power or remit to oversee the implementation of key Patten
 recommendations, including the new oath for all officers,
 important accountability mechanisms which could, for instance,
 prevent collusion in the future and with dealing with human
 rights abusers within the RUC".
 
 Kelly said that the party would be giving a more detailed
 response to the Oversight Commission's second report. He called
 for the necessary statutory powers to be given to the Oversight
 Commissioner to fulfil his role and remit of implementing Patten.
 


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>>>>>> Judgment reserved in Gildernew election case
 
 
 
 Judgment was reserved in the legal case taken by Ulster Unionist
 James Cooper to overturn the result of the Westminster election
 in Fermanagh/South Tyrone.
 
 Sinn Fein's Michelle Gildernew won the seat in the June election
 by 53 votes. Afterwards Cooper, the unionist candidate, alleged
 that Sinn Fein election workers forced the presiding officer to
 keep a polling station in Garrison, County Fermanagh, open after
 closing time.
 
 Barrister for Cooper, Declan Morgan, asserted that presiding
 officer John McGovern was forced to keep the station open due to
 "intimidation". During the two-day hearing, polling officers
 Andrew Halliday and Fay Flannigan estimated that between 15 and
 20 people voted in a seven to eight-minute period after 10pm.
 
 Speaking outside the court, Michelle Gildernew repeated her view
 that Cooper's action was driven by "sour grapes".
 
 "His (Cooper's) original submission alleged intimidation and
 there was no evidence of that," said Gildernew.
 
 Judges Carswell and McCollum reserved judgment, saying they
 wished to review the evidence.
 
 

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>>>>>> 34th Turkish hunger striker dies
 
 
 
 Umis Sahingoz, a 32-year old former prisoner and member of the
 banned Marxist group Revolutionary People's Liberation
 Party-Front, became the 34th Turkish hunger striker to die on
 Friday 14 September. One of the first batch of hunger strikers,
 Umus succumbed on the 330th day of her fast.
 
 Sahingoz, who had served time at an Istanbul prison for breaching
 Turkey's anti-terrorism laws but was released in July, died in a
 house in an Istanbul suburb where about a dozen other left-wing
 militants are also fasting, the prisoner support group Ozgur
 Tayad said.
 
 Her death occurred before a visit by an Irish delegation, which
 arrived on Sunday 16 September. Alex Maskey and other four
 delegates were briefly detained on their arrival in Turkey, when
 they were nearing the houses where released prisoners and
 relatives of political prisoners are carrying their death fast.
 
 Speaking for Sinn Fein's international department, Joan O'Connor
 pointed out that the detention of the Irish delegation highlights
 "the attempts to silence news of the hunger strikes emanating
 from Turkey".
 
 O'Connor explained that the delegation was on a fact-finding
 mission.
 
 Turkish political prisoners and their supporters began fasting in
 October last year to protest the prisoners' transfers from large,
 dormitory-style wards to prisons with one- or three-person cells.
 Prisoners say the new prison system leaves them isolated and
 vulnerable to beatings from guards.
 
 Clashes broke out in December and 30 inmates and two soldiers
 died when more than 20,000 soldiers and police stormed the
 prisons to transfer the political prisoners to the new F-type
 prisons.
 

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>>>>>>> Feature: Lifting the lid on depression
 
 BY MICHAEL PIERSE
 
 
 
 It was Depression Awareness Week in the 26 Counties last week,
 and depression support group Aware was again attempting to
 develop public awareness around one of our most understated
 taboos.
 
 This taboo accounts for more deaths than those incurred on the
 roads, yet receives far less coverage or public funding for
 support services and makes considerably less impact on the
 general public psyche.
 
 The statistics are shocking. One in fourteen workers in the 26
 Counties, or 300,000 Irish people, are currently suffering from
 depression - a whopping 7.7% of the state's population. The
 illness hospitalises 10,000 people each year and up to 500
 depression sufferers take their own lives annually. One in ten
 26-County adolescents aged 13 to 19 have a major depressive
 disorder. Overall, one in three people in the state will be
 linked to depression in their lives, either as a relative or
 friend of the depressed individual. And because the issue is so
 often brushed under the carpet, these statistics may be a little
 on the conservative side.
 
 It's easy to see why 'Aware' is a fitting name for an
 organisation that deals with depression. Formed in 1985 by
 interested patients, their relatives and mental health
 professionals, Aware aims to assist that section of the community
 whose lives are directly affected by depression. It runs 60
 support groups around the country, for those who are depressed
 and for their relatives.
 
 Fear of the unknown and ignorance of the realities of depression
 have maintained the code of secrecy that is attached to the
 illness, according to Aware's Information Officer, Lynn Greene.
 
 "People often think that depression is not an illness and
 sufferers are often told to 'cop on' to themselves," she said.
 "Even the word 'depression' is used too casually, to
 describe a temporary condition, rather than a serious illness.
 But people are more aware now of depression."
 
 So what exactly is depression? The word itself has many meanings
 and associations. We may use it to describe a feeling of
 emotional distress and in this sense it is regarded as a symptom.
 
 'Emotional distress' as a definition of depression is something
 common to us all at times, though normally this distress is
 transitory and tolerable. Such feelings, or 'normal depressions',
 occur most frequently in response to the disappointments of
 everyday life and, to a lesser extent, our mood fluctuates with
 the seasons or in response to hormonal factors. Depression,
 manifesting itself over a prolonged period of time and causing
 such severe suffering as to render the sufferer incapable of
 coping with the mundane challenges of life, is termed 'abnormal
 depression', or a depressive disorder.
 
 Distinguishing one type from another, or prescribing medication
 or treatment, or one or the other, or neither, is, however, not
 as easy as this rather simplistic definition would suggest. "For
 each individual it's different," says Greene. Whatever type is
 identified, treatment can alleviate the symptoms in eight out of
 every ten cases.
 
 While depression is said to affect one in every two women and one
 in every four men, these figures are possibly more a reflection
 of the inhibitions most associated with men. "Other factors may
 be involved in that. Men are more likely to be less open with
 their feelings - so more than one in four may actually suffer,"
 Greene says. While experiences exclusive to women such as
 childbirth and menstruation are causes of depression, suicides
 are most common amongst young men.
 
 One problem with depression is that it often goes undiagnosed and
 untreated, or is hidden by the sufferer for long periods of time.
 Besides people's unwillingness to face up to the illness,
 confusion, or ignorance as to what constitutes depression, or
 different types of depression, also causes anxiety and
 uncertainty for sufferers.
 
 So-called 'normal depression', or reactive depression, is an
 extension of the normal, upset feeling that follows an unhappy
 event in a person's life. The death of a close relative or
 friend, family strife or unexpected job loss are some of the
 common events that can evoke an extreme state of unhappiness.
 Typically, the person with reactive depression will feel low,
 anxious, often angry and irritable and will tend to be
 preoccupied with the upsetting event and usually will have
 difficulty sleeping. Treating this type of depression may,
 initially, merit the use of medication, but it is a process of
 psychotherapy that usually resolves it. Psychotherapy basically
 means encouraging the sufferer to talk about what they are going
 through and to ensure that they can cope better with future
 events.
 
 Endogenous depression means depression coming from 'within'. In
 its pure form, the person experiencing this type of depression is
 unable to account for his/her mood change, although traumatic
 events may provoke the condition. Many of the symptoms common to
 reactive depression may be present in endogenous depression. The
 person's thinking slows, he or she may have difficulty in
 concentrating and making decisions, and everything seems an
 effort. The symptoms of endogenous depression are usually worse
 in the morning and sufferers may not be able to sleep beyond 5am
 or 6am. Antidepressant medications are the mainstay of treatment
 for this type of depression.
 
 Finally, there is manic depression, also known as bipolar
 disorder. 40,000 people in the 26 Counties suffer from bipolar
 disorder, with men and women suffering equally. The symptoms of
 the depressive phase are identical with those of endogenous
 depression, but the sufferer also experiences spells of elation,
 or mania. On average, 70% of the cause of bipolar disorder is
 genetic and the remaining 30% is attributable to environmental
 factors. Mood-stabilising medication is the usual treatment for
 this type of depression.
 
 Aware recommends that those experiencing depressive tendencies
 for a period of two weeks or more should consult their GP. "You
 can't force anyone to go for help - all we can do is give them
 the literature to get the help. This is always terrible for a
 family to handle," says Lynn Greene. Despite the fact that GPs in
 the past were reluctant to deal with depression, she is fully
 confident that times have changed in this regard.
 
 "Nowadays, GPs are very well up on depression. Before, they
 wouldn't have wanted to deal with it so much, probably because
 they didn't realise it's so prevalent."
 
 
 Information: (01) 661 7211
 Helpline: (01) 676 6166
 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Website: http://www.aware.ie
 
 
 
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>>>>>> Analysis: IRA move demands mature response
 
 
 
 In spite of the continued failure of the British government to
 deliver on its commitments, further obstacles being erected as a
 block on the road to a new police service and the recent intense
 media barrages against it, the IRA has again demonstrated its
 commitment to the peace process.
 
 In its statement this week, the IRA leadership confirms that its
 representative will intensify engagement with the Independent
 International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD). Again, the
 IRA asserts its "commitment to deal satisfactorily with the
 question of arms".
 
 Gerry Adams, welcoming the statement on behalf of Sinn Fein, said
 that "while there are many difficulties, it remains my firm view
 that none of these matters are intractable. What is required is
 focused political action".
 
 Making a rational and progressive response to this statement
 should now be the focus of unionism and the British government.
 The IRA statement of 8 August, which revealed that it had made
 proposals to the IICD on the arms issue "which will put IRA arms
 completely and verifiably beyond use", was welcomed by the
 British government and was heralded by the Dublin government as
 "historic".
 
 Despite the tremendous opportunity on offer, however, the British
 government chose to revert to type, using powers outside the
 terms of the Agreement to suspend the political institutions at
 the behest of the Ulster Unionists.
 
 The process leading to its 8 August initiative, the IRA stresses,
 "involved considerable problems" for the organisation. Therefore,
 the "IRA leadership's ability to speedily and substantially
 progress the decision was completely undermined by the setting of
 further preconditions and the outright rejection of the IICD
 statement by the UUP leadership". Subsequent actions by the
 British government, the Army states, removed the conditions
 necessary for progress.
 
 Since 1994, the IRA has maintained two successive cessations. It
 has continually asserted its commitment to peace and has made
 leaps of faith that have been unprecedented in republican
 history. But as it says in its statement, peace making is a
 collective reponsibility.
 
 As Gerry Adams said in his welcoming statement, the issue of
 weapons should never have been allowed to become a precondition
 or a blockage on the rights and entitlements of citizens. It must
 be resolved politically.
 





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