Reports obtained from:
(1) Republicans News, (2) Belfast Telegraph, (3) Irish Echo (USA)
(4) Independent Monitoring Commission, (5) Irish News (Belfast)
Saturday-Monday, 17-19 April, 2004
Tuesday, 20 April, 2004
Wednesday, 21 April, 2004
Thursday, 22 April, 2004
Saturday-Monday, 17-19 April, 2004
SF anger as funds are hit
Publication of a report on paramilitary activity by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) is to go ahead after a High Court challenge failed on Monday.
The IMC is reported to recommend that the British government suspends the wages of Sinn Fein Assembly members because of alleged activity by the mainstream IRA.
Sinn Fein said it would "resist" any move to impose sanctions on members. South Belfast Assembly member Alex Maskey described as "ridiculous" suggestions that the British government would deduct Assembly salaries from Sinn Fein and the Progressive Unionist Party over allegations of activity by the IRA and unionist paramilitary UVF.
The commission was set up last year at the behest of Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble. Ostensibly monitoring whether all sides are honouring commitments under the Good Friday Agreement, its main role is undoubtedly to provide cover for government-inspired sanctions on Sinn Fein.
In a court challenge, counsel for the IMC successfully argued that the Commission was immune to any legal challenge as it was constituted as an international body, not a public authority.
Lawyers for Thomas Tolan, one of four west Belfast men charged with the attempted abduction of republican dissident Bobby Tohill from a city centre pub in February, had pointed out that the report would prejudice his trial, in an application for a judicial review.
Mr Maskey, a former lord mayor of Belfast, said his party refused to recognise the IMC.
He said it was "little more than a tool of British securocrats to be used to discriminate against Sinn Fein and our electorate".
"The IMC's role from day one has been about providing the British government and the securocrats within the British system the political cover to exclude Sinn Fein, the largest nationalist party, from the process."
He said it had been established outside the terms of the Good Friday Agreement as a lifeline to (Ulster Unionist leader) David Trimble and is being used purely for political reasons."
"Sinn Fein does not accept the validity of financial penalties or any other sanction on us or anyone else for something somebody else may or may not have done. It is a ridiculous idea. We have always said that Sinn Fein is not responsible for anyone else other than ourselves. If financial penalties are imposed, we will resist it and oppose it."
The report would be based entirely upon briefings given to this body by the Special Branch and the other 'securocrat' agencies -- "the very same people who stand indicted for organising and carrying out a campaign of state sponsored murder in the six counties."
Some form of official sanction against Sinn Fein has been on the cards following a high-profile attack on dissident republican Bobby Tohill at a Belfast city centre bar in February.
PSNI police Chief Hugh Orde has blamed the IRA for the incident, as did Mr Tohill initially. Mr Tohill has since withdrawn the allegation, and has since described it a personal dispute, accusing the British government of using him as a "pawn" in the peace process.
The IRA denied it had authorised any action against Mr Tohill.
Following the release of the IMC report, the British and Irish governments are planning intensive all-party talks in London later this month to deal with paramilitarism and other problems in the peace process.
Hugh Orde said he hoped the report would turn the screw on Sinn Fein and the IRA. He said: "If it puts people under pressure and says we found you out, you have got to stop, you have got to go away, that's a good thing for policing. It enables us to go forward."
The report is said to say the IRA breaches are sufficient to merit "remedial action", which could include the suspension of Sinn Fein members from any power-sharing executive.
However, with the entire assembly operating only intermittently since 1998, and with it in suspension since October 2002, that sanction is not open to the government.
The IMC is instead believed to have recommended financial sanctions against Sinn Fein rather than exclusion from the political institutions.
Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin predicted the body will "major on alleged republican activity, slow-pedal on the activities of unionist paramilitaries and ignore entirely the British government breaches of the agreement up until now".
"It will be interesting to see what the IMC have to say about the British government policy of state-sanctioned murder recently exposed by Judge Cory, or the series of murders carried out by unionist paramilitaries over the past year, many of which are reportedly linked to British agents working within the unionist paramilitaries," he said.
A meeting in London today on findings of collusion by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the nationalist SDLP was postponed on Monday to allow the media to focus on the IMC report.
IMC report leads to sanctions, talks cancellation
British Direct Ruler Paul Murphy has ordered a cut in state funding for Sinn Fein and the Progressive Unionist Party following the publication today of the report by the International Monitoring Commission.
In its first report, the IMC -- a new body set up for the purpose by the two governments -- called for financial sanctions to be imposed on the parties, accusing them of being linked to active paramilitary organisations in the North of Ireland.
On the alleged kidnapping of republican dissident Bobby Tohill, the IMC declared that this was an operation "planned and undertaken by the Provisional IRA", although this had been denied by the IRA leadership.
The report lists a dozen murders carried out by loyalist paramilitaries since the beginning of last year, five of them by the UDA. Most are drug related or a product of internal feuding, but include the sectarian killing of Lisburn Catholic James McMahon.
Republicans view the IMC as little more than a tool of the two governments, set up outside the terms of the 1998 Goood Friday Agreement in order to undermine that agreement.
As the political atmosphere soured in advance of today's publication, It was announced last night that intensive talks in London aimed at restoring momentum to the peace process have been cancelled.
Paul Murphy told the British parliament today that the penalties have yet to be finalised, and Sinn Fein and the PUP have until next Tuesday to appeal his order cutting their block grant.
He declared: "I am persuaded that it would be right to remove for a period the entitlement to the block financial assistance paid to Assembly parties in respect of both Sinn Fein and the Progressive Unionist Party."
On the basis of their participation in the Assembly, some 120,000 pounds is paid by the British exchequer annually to Sinn Fein, while 27,000 pounds is given to the smaller PUP.
Murphy also said it was possible that the salaries of Assembly members could be cut if further reports by the IMC were equally negative, and that the parties could also be excluded from any restored Executive.
The Dublin government said it accepted the "disturbing" conclusions of the report that senior members of Sinn Fein are operating at the highest echelons of the IRA and that the IRA remains involved in "paramilitary and criminal activity".
In a statement, it said: "The transition to exclusively democratic means must be completed. We want this to happen once and for all, and as soon as possible.
The Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, suggested action on prisoner releases would be better than proposed financial penalties directed at the political parties. The SDLP described the proposed fines as "petty cash" to Sinn Fein and a "risible" punishment.
Sinn Fein Assembly member for West Belfast Bairbre de Brun said that her party 'did not accept the IMC and would politically fight the governments on this report and the sanctions it imposes'.
She said: "It is complete nonsense that a so called independent body confirms what he PSNI [police] are saying on the basis of a briefing from the PSNI.
"The IMC has no credibility with the broad nationalist electorate. It is a disgrace that the Irish government has signed up to the establishment of this body in the first place.
"There is of course nothing in the report of the IMC about the role of the British government in collusion, the continuing suspension of the political institutions or the continuing failure to demilitarise or deliver on policing, justice and human rights commitments."
SInn Fein has vowed to fight the sanction at technical, legal, and political levels.
Party chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said Sinn Fein was a party which had been censored for 25 years.
"It didn't stop our politics and if the British government are foolish enough to think that by imposing financial penalties - and they are really imposing those financial penalties on our constituency in terms of the service they are entitled to - then Sinn Fein will defeat that as we defeated the policies of exclusion and censorship."
The attempt to use the artificial mechanism of the IMC would not succeed any more than previous attempts to exclude Sinn Fein, he said.
Today's IMC report comes as three days of proximity talks, planned for London next week, involving all the Six Counties parties and British and Irish officials were postponed.
It is unclear if the talks will proceed before the European elections in June.
Republicans have accused the British government of acting deceptively over the talks. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the talks cancellation was "unacceptable" and was "an example of the ad hoc and almost casual attitude of London and Dublin towards the process."
The four members of the IMC
IMC = Independent Monitoring Commission
Belfast Telegraph
LORD ALDERDICE
THE former Assembly Speaker is the commission's specialist on Northern Ireland's internal politics.
The 48-year-old was leader of the Alliance Party between 1987 and 1998 and was elevated to the House of Lords in 1996. He was on the party's negotiating team during the build-up to the Good Friday Agreement.
He is also a practicing psychiatrist and an elder in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
Along with John Grieve, he serves on the IMC sub-committee that will deal with breaches of the Agreement that fall within Northern Ireland's internal political system.
JOHN GRIEVE
THE former head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist unit was a member of the Metropolitan Police for 36 years.
The 57-year-old joined the Met in 1966, first serving in Clapham. As a detective, he worked on the Flying Squad, Robbery Squad and Murder Squad.
He introduced Asset Seizure Investigation in the United Kingdom.
He was also Scotland Yard's first Director of Intelligence and ran the Anti-Terrorism Squad during the period when the Real IRA embarked on a bombing campaign in London between 1996 and 1998.
Mr Grieve retired in May 2002 and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at Portsmouth University and Honorary Professor at Buckingham Chiltern University College.
Along with Lord Alderdice, he was appointed to the IMC by the British Government.
RICHARD KERR
DICK Kerr (68), was a member of America's Central Intelligence Agency for more than 30 years, eventually becoming America's chief spy in the early 1990s.
After joining the CIA in 1960, he worked as a Soviet military analyst during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962-63. A Soviet specialist, he later served in senior posts in the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence, including the office that provides daily intelligence briefings for the President.
He was the CIA's Deputy Director from 1989 until 1992, and served briefly as the acting Director of the agency before he retired from the organisation in 1992. He is currently a member of corporate boards in the private sector.
He was appointed to the IMC by the US government.
JOE BROSNAN
A FORMER senior civil servant in the Republic's Department of Justice, Joe Brosan was part of the Irish Government team that discussed the North-South and British-Irish relations during the early stages of the talks process.
A trained barrister, he held senior posts in the Department of Justice's Garda and Security divisions as well as working on law reform. He became Secretary General of the Department in February 1991.
In 1993 he became the senior aide to Padraig Flynn, the Irish member of the European Commission. He retired from the Irish civil service in 1999 and became a consultant on public and European affairs. He was appointed to the IMC by the Irish Government.
Copyright © 2004 Belfast Telegraph
IMC's political judgments
Irish Echo editorial
The speed in which the Independent Monitoring Commission has reported on alleged IRA activity could not contrast more sharply with the reticence shown by the British government in implementing a public inquiry following the Cory Report into the murder of, among others, Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane.
The report by the IMC on paramilitary activity will have serious ramifications for the Northern peace process -- and probably destroys any chance of short-term resolution to the current impasse. It will be used by unionists to block any moves toward a restoration of power sharing on anything but their own terms. Its timing, brought forward by several months at the behest of the British government, has scuppered any hope of an immediate breakthrough. Throughout the report the IMC stresses its own independence yet demonstrably failed to exercise this very independence when asked to report two months in advance of its original deadline.
Sinn Fein is now firmly in the political dog house over claims that the
IRA is involved in racketeering, punishment beatings and abductions. While republicans surely must get their house in order if they wish to sustain their involvement in a devolved Northern government, the report does little more than strengthen the hand of those who seek to prevent change.
Most worryingly, however, the IMC appears to have overstepped its mark with what are overtly political judgments. It calls on all parties in the North to support the criminal-justice system and policing regime -- despite whatever reservations they may have about the speed of reform. This is clearly aimed at Sinn Fein, the majority nationalist party in the North. It has come under considerable pressure from the British, Irish and U.S. establishments for its continued refusal to endorse the North's new policing bodies.
While much attention has been placed on what the Commission had to say about alleged IRA activity, in particular its contention that republicans were behind the abduction of Bobby Tohill, little has been made of its findings regarding loyalist violence.
The UDA and the UVF have engaged in scores of attacks on Catholics in the six years since the signing of the Good Friday agreement. More recently UVF members have turned their attentions to ethnic minorities living in Belfast engaging in a series of racially motivated attacks.
It seems loyalists, despite the recommendation by the IMC that the
Progressive Unionist Party be fined for UVF misdemeanours, will escape the type of scathing criticism that is already being directed at Sinn Fein.
Nationalists, meanwhile, will only have the Police Service of Northern Ireland to rely on to protect them from loyalist aggression -- a police force that most of them still find unacceptable.
The IMC report may be viewed on line at www.independentmonitoringcommission.org.
Copyright © 2004 Irish Echo
Tuesday-Wednesday, 20-21 April, 2004
IMC A 'Puppet show'
Govt body threatens to expose IRA chiefs
The Independent Monitoring Commission's threat to expose Sinn Fein members as IRA leaders has "polluted" the peace process, Sinn Fein said today, who accused the IMC of acting as a proxy of British government securocrats.
In an angry attack on the commission, whose first report yesterday called for financial penalties against Sinn Fein on the basis of police briefings that the IRA remained active, party chairman Mitchel McLaughlin warned it had the potential to "put another nail in the coffin" of the process.
Although the IMC report accepted that Sinn Fein did not control the IRA, it declared that some leading members of Sinn Fein are also leading members of the IRA. It called for the political subvention paid to Sinn Fein on the basis of its participation in the Belfast Assembly to be cut.
The IMC declared that all the North's main paramilitary organisations were engaged in punishment attacks and criminal activities. It said a republican group, which it hinted was the Provisional IRA, carried out the abduction and murder of missing Armagth man Gareth O'Connoor, It also blamed the breakway 'Real IRA' for killing Belfast man Danny McGurk.
On the unionist side, it blamed the UDA for six murders since January 2003 and accused other unionist paramilitaries of killing another three, including Michael O'Hare, who they claim was killed by loyalists in a house fire in March 2003.
It also said one IRA man, Keith Rogers, was shot dead in South Armagh, but does not specify which paramilitary group was responsible. At the time, March 2003, the IRA blamed a criminal gang for killing Rogers.
If the IRA remained active, the IMC warned that the salaries of Sinn Fein Assembly members could be cut, that the party could be excluded from the Executive, and the senior members could be 'named and shamed' as IRA chiefs.
Mr McLaughlin said: "Engagements between parties are needed but reports like this pollute the atmosphere of this process.
"Let us just look at this commission. It was set up at the behest of David Trimble to give spurious credibility to the same daggers which members of the police Special Branch have been pointing in our direction for some time.
"All the British and Irish governments have done by establishing the IMC is to find another microphone, another voice box for the securocrats, but there is no new evidence.
"This process has been about getting everyone involved, including ex-combatants, in finding political solutions instead of military ones.
"Sinn Fein devised the strategy and has invested a lot but it now seems others have abandoned it in favour of a strategy aimed at stopping our electoral growth.
"This report will not affect the republican base but it has the potential to put another nail in the coffin for this process."
In their only political initiative in recent years, the IMC was set up last year by the British and Irish governments to check if all sides were honouring their commitments under the Good Friday Agreement.
However, it was clear from its inception that the body was designed to implement 'sanctions' against Sinn Fein for political purposes. Its report is based on briefings from the PSNI police and British military intelligence.
Its members are former Belfast Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice, ex-London anti-terror police chief John Grieve, retired Irish civil servant Joe Brosnan and Richard Kerr, formerly deputy director of the United States CIA.
The body's first dossier was brought forward following an incident in which the Provisional IRA was accused of beating up and trying to abduct dissident republican Bobby Tohill from a Belfast city centre bar in February.
Its recommendation that thousands of pounds should be withheld from Sinn Fein and the Progressive Unionist Party, which has links with the unionist paramilitary UVF, was adopted yesterday by British Direct Ruler Paul Murphy.
Lord Alderdice said he was ready to 'out' Sinn Fein politicians he was told were also IRA leaders.
The commission member said: "Those that we believe are likely to be in positions of senior leadership in various paramilitary groups should expect to receive direct communications from us so that they have an opportunity to respond to the views we are developing."
Mr McLaughlin accused Lord Alderice, a former leader of the cross community Alliance Party, of being "a pet poodle" for the British government's Northern Ireland Office throughout his career.
The Foyle Assembly member said: "At the end of the day, it is difficult if republicans across the board are trying to make this process work and others are trying to slow this up."
Hardline unionist Ian Paisley, of the DUP claimed that fining the parties cited in the report amounted to little more than a "murder tax". The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, urged the British government to reconsider its prisoner release scheme.
The SDLP's Seamus Mallon voiced support for the IMC and their report, but demanded higher fines be imposed on Sinn Fein.
Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy later accued Mr Mallon of 'supporting the British government in discriminating against the majority of nationalists in the six counties who now vote for Sinn Fein'.
As Murphy and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen met in London today for the first time since the release of the IMC report, all sides criticised the decision to cancel multi-party talks next week.
Mr Murphy insisted progress could be made despite the tense atmosphere.
He said yesterday's report simply revealed issues that people were already well aware of.
"It doesn't mean to say that we stop progress," he said.
"It tells us that there are obstacles to be overcome, which are difficult ones. But I think there is a will there amongst all the political parties and the two governments to make progress.
"It is not going to be easy, we never thought it was going to be easy. But nevertheless we intend to carry on. We are not standing still."
Mr Cowen said: "We all know where everything is at. We have to get into a dialogue, get into a political discourse, which will address these issues.
"We are all committed to making this process work. There is a problem with one side of the community about whether paramilitary activity can be brought to an end and whether we can see partnership government put in place to everyone`s satisfaction."
Feature: IMC report on paramilitary groups
The following is an extract of the statement by the International Monitoring commision on the organisation and assessment of current activities of paramilitary groups.
CONTINUITY IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (CIRA) AND REPUBLICAN SINN FEIN (RSF)
CIRA is the military wing of RSF. RSF was formed in 1986 by dissident Provisionals disillusioned by the changed strategy of Sinn Fein to end its abstentionist policy towards taking seats in Dail Eireann. RSF asserts that it is the only true voice of Republicanism. CIRA subsequently evolved in the early 1990s as the military wing of RSF. CIRA had hoped to attract disaffected members from PIRA, but the membership remained small. By mid-1999 most of its members North of the border had defected to the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), though the group has recovered some ground since then.
CIRA is a limited organisation but one ready to commit acts of extreme violence. CIRA's leadership maintains only a tenuous authority over individual units. Those units normally consist of about six people and act in the main autonomously. The group lacks a central strategic focus other than continuing the Republican struggle by physical violence. Even though membership is small CIRA can, by operating through small units, mount effective, though sporadic, attacks.
CIRA has access to an unknown quantity of weapons and explosives and has technical expertise sufficient to construct improvised explosive devices, some of which have been crude in nature. In the last year or so the group has carried out a number of successful attacks, including an attack on a military barracks, one on a town hall, and one on a unionist politician's constituency office. It was also responsible for a recent arson attack on the vehicle of a member of a District Policing Partnership, and has targeted other members. Furthermore, it has recently been involved in setting up new active service units. The arrest of several members of CIRA in June 2003 in the process of constructing a large explosive device indicates, in our view, the potentially dangerous capability of the group. The relationship between RIRA and CIRA at present seems to be one of co-operation.
IRISH NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY (INLA) AND IRISH REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST PARTY (IRSP)
The INLA came into being in 1975 as the paramilitary wing of IRSP. Its initial core members were disaffected members of the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA following the 1972 ceasefire. The INLA is a very volatile mix of people from many and varied terrorist backgrounds. It has a reputation for extreme violence and internal feuding centred round leadership disputes which regularly lead to fragmentation of the group.
While the INLA may not be as prominent now as in the past it is still a significant terrorist group. It declared a ceasefire in 1998 which still survives after a fashion. The INLA remains active. In January 2004 it carried out an attack on a 14 year old boy in North Belfast and the shooting of a man in Strabane. The group is heavily involved in criminality, especially drugs, and finances itself by extorting money from both legitimate and illegitimate sources. In our view it continues to constitute a high threat of re-engagement, either as individuals or as an organisation. Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF)
The LVF was formed in 1996 by former members of the mid-Ulster brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). These members had been expelled from the UVF following a disagreement with the leadership over the UVF's response to the resumption at that time of PIRA violence. Its membership is quite small and it is centred around Portadown with some support in Belfast and Antrim. In the past it has played a prominent role in the annual Drumcree parade.
The LVF has no political representation. It declared a ceasefire in 1998 and has used this to get its prisoners released under the Belfast Agreement. It handed over some weapons to the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning in December 1998 and has sought to link its decommissioning efforts to further movement on prisoner issues.
Despite its declared ceasefire the LVF has since been involved in murders and shootings. In September 2001 it was responsible for the first journalist to be murdered in Northern Ireland because of the troubles. More recently - on 8 May 2003 - it carried out another murder. It has continued to carry out paramilitary shootings and assaults in 2004. LVF members are deeply involved in criminality, primarily in the illegal drugs trade. The LVF has been linked to one of the largest ever seizures of illegal drugs in Northern Ireland which was made in 2003.
PROVISIONAL IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (PIRA)
The PIRA is a tightly knit and secure organisation which has adapted its structure to suit changing circumstances. The General Army Convention (GAC) is PIRA's supreme decision-making authority. The GAC in turn elects the Army Executive of twelve members, which in turn selects the Provisional Army Council. For day-today purposes authority is vested in the Provisional Army Council (PAC), which as well as directing policy and taking major tactical decisions, appoints the Chief of Staff. We believe that any decision to commit murder would be known to members of the PAC. Under the Chief of Staff is the General Headquarters (GHQ), which consists of a number of individual departments. Again, these departments can change according to circumstances and PIRA's priorities. In alphabetical order the departments are Education and Communication, Engineering, Finance, Intelligence, Operations, Publicity, Quartermaster General, Security and Training.
Within Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland, there are six geographical command areas each comprising between one and three brigades. Each area is headed by a commander directly responsible to GHQ for overseeing operations within that area. The structure in the rest of Ireland is broadly similar, although efforts there are mainly directed to supporting operations rather than undertaking them. PIRA is a well-funded organisation deriving a substantial income from smuggling and other criminal activities.
We are developing our picture of current PIRA activity. The picture is mixed. PIRA is not presently involved in attacks on security forces. One murder may be attributable to PIRA since 1 January 2003. In common with other paramilitary groups, involvement in riots is not a present issue. But PIRA nevertheless remains active and in a high state of readiness. It has been undertaking training in the early part of this year. It maintains a capability on intelligence, both on political events and on potential targets, and on weaponry. This provides ample evidence of an organisation maintaining its capacity to undertake acts of violence or to participate in a terrorist campaign if that seemed necessary to it.
PIRA is highly active in paramilitary shootings short of murder. It has been responsible for eight such attacks so far this year. This pattern is indicative of effective direction by the leadership; we are persuaded that decisions were taken at a senior level to restrict such attacks during the Assembly election period and that the PAC would have been aware in general terms of the imposition and lifting of these restrictions. An earlier example had been the suspension of terrorist activity during a visit by President Clinton when at the same time plans were being made for the Canary Wharf bomb and attacks on London power stations. In recent months PIRA was also involved in three abductions and an exiling.
PIRA remains a relatively sophisticated and well controlled organisation. It maintains itself in a state of readiness, and possesses the range of necessary skills, whereby it could revert to much more widespread violence were the decision taken that it should do so. In addition to its involvement in other criminal activities, PIRA is engaged in the use of serious violence which we believe is under the control of its most senior leadership, whose members must therefore bear responsibility for it.
REAL IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (RIRA) AND THIRTY-TWO COUNTY SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT (32CSM)
The 32 County Committee, later to become the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM), came into being in December 1997. It is committed to a politically united 32 County Ireland which, in its view, the Belfast Agreement cannot deliver and which can be achieved only by British withdrawal from Ireland. Although the M has always denied any links with RIRA, its leadership is dominated by a small number of individuals who appear to hold dual membership and play a part in policymaking within both organisations. The 32CSM seems at present to be concentrating on securing publicity for its cause and raising the profile of the organisation. It is also involved in raising funds for prisoners' welfare.
RIRA emerged in tandem with the 32CSM and was formed by defecting members of PIRA who were opposed to the 1997 ceasefire and later to the Belfast Agreement. It became active very shortly after its formation.
RIRA lacks an organised structure so that individual units have a considerable degree of autonomy. There is little central strategy although there is input from leadership figures in terms of authorising or overseeing attacks. It has been involved in bombings, and in planting incendiary devices in Northern Ireland, using a wide range of different kinds of devices.
RIRA's most serious attack was the Omagh bomb in August 1998, which killed 29 people and two unborn children and inflicted numerous injuries. Following this atrocity the RIRA announced a complete cessation of all military activity with effect from 7 September 1998, although it refused to disband or disarm. This lasted until early 2000 although it is clear that RIRA continued during that period to plan and train for terrorist activity and to develop its arms capability. Its first attack after Omagh was the bombing of Shackleton Barracks in February 2000. It also carried out a sporadic but high profile campaign in Great Britain including a rocket propelled grenade attack on the Security Intelligence Service Headquarters. There have been some recent attacks on the military. It has also recently undertaken attacks against people involved in the Policing Board and District Policing Partnerships.
RIRA has access to a significant quantity of arms and equipment. While the membership is not a totally cohesive group we believe RIRA is potentially a very dangerous terrorist group. The primary focus of RIRA attacks remains on security force bases and personnel in Northern Ireland, and on those involved in the new policing arrangements, but a wider range of targets cannot be ruled out. Attacks on targets in Britain would continue to be an objective of RIRA.
ULSTER DEFENCE ASSOCIATION (UDA)
The UDA has its origins in the vigilante groups formed in Protestant working class areas in Northern Ireland during the 1970's. It has evolved over the years in a way that has seen it operate through other paramilitary organisations - the UFF in particular. It has been closely associated with the now defunct Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) and is now associated with the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG).
The UDA is organised into six brigades, each under the command of a 'brigadier'. Each brigade undertakes paramilitary activities. The Inner Council consists of the six 'brigadiers' plus, on occasions, some paramilitary or political advisers. The 'brigadiers' have a large degree of autonomy, which they exercise independently of the Inner Council. UDA activities are in the main confined to Northern Ireland.
The number of violent activists is quite a small proportion of overall UDA membership. Many of those not involved in violence against the nationalist community are involved in other anti-social behaviour, often involving at least the threat of violence. This behaviour includes operating protection rackets, as well as the intimidation of individuals, particularly business people.
The UDA has the capacity to launch serious, if crude, attacks. Some of these attacks are of a sectarian nature directed at the Catholic community. These are generally aimed at what are sometimes described as "soft" targets, often occur at the interface between the Protestant and Catholic communities, especially in Belfast, and involve the use of pipe bombs. The organisation continues to be involved in targeting individual Catholics and has undertaken recent attacks against retired and serving prison officers. It is responsible for recent murders and arson attacks. It has declared a ceasefire but not decommissioned any arms. The UPRG recently announced the indefinite extension of the UDA's self-imposed "cessation of military activity" but even since then the UDA have been involved in further violence.
In recent years the UDA has been heavily engaged in crime, including drugs, particularly in urban areas. This has led to feuds within the organisation, which in turn have contributed significantly to violence in Northern Ireland. These feuds frequently culminate in murders, punishment beatings and in the exiling of individuals from Northern Ireland. There is also continuing anti-social behaviour in support of this criminal activity, notably intimidation for the purpose of funding the organisation.
We are clear that the UDA is involved in murders and other forms of criminal activity. Since 1 January 2003 the UDA committed some half of all paramilitary murders. We have no doubt that the UDA remains involved in paramilitary assaults and shootings, and in exiling people from Northern Ireland. We are satisfied that many of these activities are known to the UDA at 'brigadier' level and so to the Inner Council.
ULSTER VOLUNTEER FORCE (UVF) AND RED HAND COMMANDO (RHC)
The UVF and RHC are linked organisations. Both are relatively small, the latter particularly so. The number of their active members is a few hundred. They are based mainly in the Belfast and immediately adjacent areas. Both have on occasions undertaken extremely vicious sectarian attacks. The command structure of the UVF is centralised, and its decision making normally coherent. Its control over its wider membership is relatively strong. The RHC also operates under a single commanding officer. Both the UVF and RHC are represented politically by the Progressive Unionist Party, which is close to both groups.
The UVF has maintained a policy of no first strikes against the Catholic community but it is prepared to consider a response to republican attacks. It engages in punishment attacks against people accused of anti-social behaviour and in violent clashes with members of other loyalist organisations, sometimes in connection with disputes over criminal activities. The UVF has not decommissioned any weapons and maintains the view that it is under no obligation to do so. Since autumn 2003 the UVF has been responsible for two murders; for a pipe bomb attack; and for assaults and shootings, including against the UDA. It was also responsible for a bomb found outside a bar in Belfast on St Patrick's Day, which was defused by the security forces. In addition its members have been linked to recent racial attacks in Belfast but we believe these particular attacks were not sanctioned by the leadership. It continues to recruit and train new members and to procure weapons and is involved in smuggling, robbery and extortion.
The RHC also continues to carry out punishment attacks on other members of the loyalist community, and is involved in drug dealing.
The UVF and RHC are ruthless and reasonably well controlled organisations, heavily engaged in major crime and in punishment attacks. They retain a capacity for more widespread violence in which they would not hesitate to engage if they judged the circumstances made it appropriate.
Adams: Peace process above party politics
The following is an edited version of the remarks made to party activists at Buswells Hotel in Dublin last night by Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams MP.
"My remarks today will deal with this afternoon's report from the so-called Independent Monitoring Commission. I will also outline the Sinn Fein view of the Irish Government's stewardship of the Good Friday Agreement process at this time.
The IMC was established by the British and Irish Governments last year, at the demand of David Trimble. It is clearly in contravention of the Good Friday Agreement and we said so at the time.
We were under no illusions. The role of the IMC was to facilitate the exclusion of our party, to soft peddle on unionist violence and to entirely ignore the behaviour of the British government - the party most in breach of the Good Friday Agreement.
The Commission is not independent. That much is obvious from its remit, its membership and the fact it bases its decisions on reports from the PSNI, the British Army and the securocrats who continue to dictate the British government's attitude and action on the peace process. The pretence of it making recommendations to the two Governments is an undemocratic political farce.
The Commissions report is a proxy report by the securocrats which recommends sanctions against Sinn Fein - despite the clear fact that we are not in any way in breach of the Agreement, nor did they suggest we were.
It reduced the ongoing unionist paramilitary campaign almost to a postscript and exonerated the two governments entirely.
And where did the Commission get their information? From the same people who so outrageously raided our offices in Stormont in a blaze of publicity, and the same people who tried to collapse the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement, by getting Sinn Fein expelled from the talks in early 1998.
With the British government waging war in Iraq these elements are obviously in the ascendancy within their system. These are the agencies indicted in the Barron report, in the censored Cory report and in every investigation into collusion in recent times.
The duplicity and double standards in the report are outrageous.
For example, the British government recently sought to excuse its refusal to allow a fully independent judicial inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane, on the basis that a person is facing trial.
There are four people facing trial over the Tohill affair. Yet this matter is investigated at the request of the two governments and is a substantive part of this report and the reason for its publication at this time.
And it has to be noted that the speed with which this report has been issued - a matter of three months since the Commission first met and despite ongoing legal considerations - stands in stark contrast to the shabby treatment which the British and Irish governments have meted out to the family of Pat Finucane, who have waited fifteen years for justice. They continue to wait.
In addition, while accepting that Sinn Fein is not in a position to actually determine the policies or operational strategies of the IRA, the Commission recommends financial penalties against Sinn Fein.
This is a nonsense position. It is a politically contrived conclusion which has no basis in fact.
The Commission recommendations are clearly discriminatory, subvert the democratic and electoral rights and mandate of Sinn Fein and of our electorate.
The Commission, after all, is the child of the two governments. It is only doing what it was set up to do. Its report is a sham.
But the thinking behind the establishment of the Commission is symptomatic of the flawed attitude of the two governments for some time now.
It is a historic fact that for a long time successive Irish governments were willing to blindly follow a British government led agenda.
The development over the last decade of inclusive, conflict resolution type processes saw a potential for the emergence of a new inter-governmental relationship. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement both governments are called on to act as co-equal partners on all the issues dealt with by the Agreement.
The Agreement is arguably one of the most important Treaties in recent Irish history. Without question the peace process is the most important development of our times.
But the great difficulty was always going to be in implementing the Agreement, not least because of the powerful forces of reaction who are against the changes which peace requires and which the Good Friday Agreement supports.
An option for the British government is always to do as little as possible. It also has to be said that the challenges facing the governments are not to be underestimated.
It takes a singular focus and relentless tenacity and resilience to retain the approach the process demands. And of course governments have their own interests. And those who are in government have their interests also.
In my view these narrower interests are taking precedence over the need to defend and implement the Agreement.
The governments did not envisage the Good Friday Agreement becoming the instrument for the real change which it has the potential to be.
They envisaged an alliance between the UUP and SDLP with a fairly anaemic programme of reform which those parties would accept.
And they did not foresee the growth of Sinn Fein.
As we now know the electorate decided differently. But the governments have not accepted their democratically expressed wishes. On the contrary they are using the IMC to actively subvert democratic wishes and entitlements.
So, in July 2001 the Irish government moved prematurely on the issue of policing and broke the nationalist consensus which then existed. In October 2002 the British government stepped outside the Agreement and the Irish government acquiesced as the Assembly and the Executive were collapsed. In May 2003 the Irish government acquiesced to the cancellation of the elections. Last October they failed to honour an agreement which they made and which we and others kept in good faith.
Since the Assembly elections last November the Irish government has led the charge in a reckless way, driven by the upcoming elections, in a vicious propaganda offensive on the democratic rights of that section of the electorate who vote for Sinn Fein.
The Assembly election results undoubtedly sparked this. The aim is to influence the outcome of the local government and European elections in June.
The Irish government has also moved to bring about a referendum on Irish citizenship which is a breach of the Agreement and they did so without consultation with any of the parties to the Agreement.
The haste with which they have moved on this matter is in stark contrast to their failure to legislate for the rights of citizens with disabilities or to bring in the rights of northerners to be represented in southern institutions.
So, for all of these reasons there is justifiable concern about the current state of the process.
This was heightened last night by the sudden cancellation of the talks due to take place next week.
I am seeking urgent and separate discussions with the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister on all these matters. I have conveyed these concerns to their most senior officials.
I have always been reluctant to publicly criticise the Irish government but I have a duty to uphold the rights of our electorate and the integrity of the process which is so crucial for the future of all the people of this island.
I make my remarks more in disappointment than in anger. Sinn Fein is well able to defend ourselves but the process is more important than that and no matter about our differences on other issues I have no wish to be at odds with the government over the peace process. It is above party politics.
Tangled web which stretches from the New Lodge (Belfast) to Iraq
By Eamonn McCann
Did the punishment fit the crime? This was the question pondered on all news bulletins following Tuesday's publication of the IMC report.
In the Commons, the Unionists seemed underwhelmed by the notion of docking the pocket-money of paramilitary-related parties. On the other hand, the main parties in the South appeared content that the sanction was just about right.
I wonder what Jean McBride thought?
As Paul Murphy was outlining the IMC's recommendations at Westminster, she was at the High Court in Belfast at the start of her third legal bid to force the Ministry of Defence to get rid of Scots Guards James Fisher and Mark Wright, the pair convicted of murdering her son Peter, 18, in the New Lodge in 1992. They had served only three years before being released and re-instated in their regiment.
Ms. McBride wasn't in court to complain about their release. Her point was that the retention of the two men sent a message that the murder of her son was a minor matter. Conviction for possession of marijuana leads to automatic ejection from the army. Murdering a teenager from the New Lodge seems seen as less serious.
The Court of Appeal ruled last June that the army should have sacked the two soldiers. But the ruling stopped short of ordering their discharge. Instead, it declared that the Army's reasons for retaining them didn't constitute "exceptional circumstances" - the only basis under Queen's Regulations on which they could be kept on.
The Ministry of Defence responded in September that it would not "revisit the question of the employment of the Guardsmen," thereby telling the judges to get knotted. Hence Mrs. McBride's return to court.
Sitting alongside Murphy as he assured MPs that the IMC's punishment fitted the paramilitaries' crimes was Minister John Spellar. Did his thoughts stray across, one wonders, to where Jean McBride was listening to lawyers' argument? Or his memory waft back to November 2000, when he had been a member of the board which decided that Fisher and Wright were suitable cases to be put back in uniform and reissued with guns?
The board's decision had been welcomed by the men's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Tim Spicer. He'd given evidence that shooting the unarmed McBride in the back as he ran away had been "the correct course of action." If he'd had his way on the night, he explained, he'd have handed the murder weapons back to the men and told them to carry on. Spicer is now the chief executive officer of Sandline International, one of the leading mercenary outfits tendering for business in Iraq, where market conditions are set for improvement as Spain and other countries pull regular troops out.
From July 1, the contracts will be in the gift of John Negroponte: his appointment as US Ambassador to Iraq was confirmed on the same day as the McBride court case and the IMC announcement. The New York Times has detailed Negroponte's role in "carrying out the covert strategy of the Reagan administration to crush the Sandinista government in Nicaragua" during his time as Ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985. He worked closely with Col Oliver North in running guns to the terrorist Contras.
The Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun have helped expose his cover up of murder, kidnapping and torture.Negroponte will be well-known to Dick Kerr, a star in CIA operations going back to the 1962-63 Cuban missile crisis. By 1989, Kerr had become number two at the agency. Upon retirement in 1992 he was honoured by Bush senior for leading the CIA operation during the first US-Iraq war.He's leader of the team currently reviewing the CIA's performance in relation to Iraq's WMD. He is also a member of the IMC which on Tuesday laid down the punishments to be imposed on parties which associate with people who use guns. A complicated business, crime and punishment.
Copyright © 2004 Belfast Telegraph
Question and answer time on the IMC
By Jude Collins
Everybody's talking about the Independent Monitoring Commission. Why was it set up in the first place?
The IMC was established to help further the peace process. IRA deception and foot-dragging had led to a one-way street in which concession after concession went to nationalists and republicans. Things reached breaking point last October when the IRA decommissioned a third arsenal of weapons and nobody was satisfied.
But I thought General John de Chastelain was satisfied. Isn't he the one appointed to judge on the progress of decommissioning?
Well yes. But he didn't give the unionist people a list of what weapons had been destroyed.
That's why David Trimble was forced to pull out last October and cancel the whole deal to re-establish the executive.
I notice he waited until the IRA had decommissioned before he pulled out.
I hope you're not impugning the integrity of Mr Trimble – he's a lawyer, remember. Besides, it's disrespectful talk like that which makes it hard for unionists to trust nationalist and republican intentions.
But what about nationalist and republican trust?
Many of them weren't impressed by Mr Trimble's duck-out last October and some of them say the focus on IRA weapons means loyalist arsenals are played down.
Look, everyone is agreed that winning the trust of unionists is crucial. That's why so many commentators north and south write with unionist sympathies. As for weapons, loyalist weapons are completely different from republican weapons, because there are no loyalists in the executive.
I see. So what has the International Monitoring Commission found?
It's found that paramilitaries are making £125 million every year from criminal activity.
Doing what?
Well, racketeering and smuggling and hi-jacking. For example, republican paramilitaries have been seizing so many lorry-loads of cigarettes on the road between Belfast and Dublin. Gallahers have started crossing to Scotland, driving down through England, and then back into Dublin to avoid attacks. This sort of thuggery puts not just property but lives at risk.
But don't cigarettes kill thousands of people every year?
Stick to the point, please.
Did the IMC find paramilitaries were guilty of anything else?
It certainly did – notably brutal beatings doled out to individuals living within their own communities.
Shouldn't that sort of thing be left to the police?
I hope you're not suggesting the police beat people.
Never crossed my mind. Incidentally, how does the IMC know all this about paramilitaries?
It drew on a number of sources, but mainly intelligence people – MI5, that sort of thing.
Are these the people who told Tony Blair that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction?
No they're not ... Well yes they are, but this has nothing to do with Saddam or Iraq or WMD. Stick to the topic, please.
OK. You were saying that the police never beat anyone.
Nor did they. Besides, with the PSNI, we have a police service where fairness and human rights come first. In fact, all new recruits to the PSNI take a solemn pledge to uphold human rights.
What about those already in the force?
What about them?
Do they take this pledge as well?
There's no need for that. They're not new recruits.
But I read the Stevens Report last year and the Cory Report this year, and they said there was evidence of collusion between security forces and loyalist death squads. Wouldn't it help develop trust if all the PSNI people took this pledge to uphold human rights?
No it wouldn't. It would be a slur on the thousands of decent men and women who served in the RUC.
So what happens now?
Well, Sinn Féin and the PUP will lose funding, because of their links with paramilitaries.
But I thought the idea was to get people involved in violence to commit to politics. Won't this have the opposite effect?
No it won't. It will put an end to paramilitarism once and for all.
So Gallahers will be able to send the cigarette lorries south again?
Those of us who believe in a civilized society can only hope so.
Why do they call it the Independent Monitoring Commission?
Wasn't it set up and paid for by the British and Irish governments, wasn't it dependent on British and Irish intelligence sources for its information, and didn't it produce a report which matched exactly with the two governments' hopes?
I don't much care for the tone of your questions. These are four independent-minded people. That's why it's called the Independent Monitoring Commission.
I see. Has all this got anything to do with the June elections to local councils in the south and to Europe in the north and south?
Absolutely nothing. How dare you suggest such a thing.
Sorry.
You should be.
Copyright © 2004 Irish News
Thursday-Friday, 22-23 April, 2004
Process in 'deep crisis' - Adams
Talks to go on despite SF fury over IMC report
The review of the Good Friday Agreement will reconvene in Belfast on Tuesday as fresh efforts are being made to continue peace efforts following the devastating report of the Independent Monitoring Commission on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams led a party delegation in a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair today.
"The political process in Ireland is in deep crisis," said Mr Adams, who said the discussion was "very frank". He said they had told the British Prime Minister that "we totally and absolutely reject and resent the effort by the two governments to penalise and discriminate against our party through the IMC Report".
In relation to current difficulties in the peace process, Mr. Adams said "The cancellation of talks planned for next week is a mistake. We have been arguing for a short sharp focused approach and in our view there is now going to be a period of intense contact between us on all of these matters."
"But no government is infallible and its actions and inactions can make a bad situation worse. In our view the peace process is at that point.
"It may be that other government priorities have contributed to a lack of focus. It may be that both governments are busy on other priorities.
"Whatever the case there can be nothing more important than completing the peace process. We have not lost our commitment. But others have to keep both their focus and commitments."
On this issue of the IMC, Mr Adams said, he believed there was "profound disagreement" between his party and the British Prime Minister.
He added: "Those who think that imposing penalties or sanctions is any help in the process are either just totally and absolutely thick, don't care, have learnt nothing of how this process was put together, are not watching what is happening in the Middle East or other conflict situations."
Mr Adams said his party would send representatives to the forthcoming review of the Good Friday Agreement.
But he added: "The review is about housekeeping. It will not resolve these issues. The issues will only be resolved by getting back to the situation where there is a sustainable process of change, where people have some confidence that politics is working, and where all of us treat each other with respect and under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement."
Last night, Blair insisted that Sinn Fein must end any paramilitary connection if it aspires to government. He defended the commission and claimed the IRA was the sole block to a return to devolution.
The IMC recommended financial penalties against Sinn Fein and the Progressive Unionist Party because of IRA and UVF activity, respectively. A clearly dissatisfied Mr Adams yesterday described the four-member IMC as "a collection of spies, spooks, retired civil servants and failed politicians".
Mr Blair, however, said the IMC would have significant future involvement in the political process.
"It is going to play a central role because people in Northern Ireland, and indeed in the Republic of Ireland, can see the full extent of paramilitary activity and can recognise therefore the justice of the demand being made by the British and Irish governments, and all the other political parties in Northern Ireland, that anybody who wants to be a part of the government of Northern Ireland has to be clean from any association with paramilitary activity of whatever sort."
Mr Adams has directed most of his anger at the Dublin government.
"There are some who think that there is a case of going with the flow on these matters. It is not. It is a matter of political principle. And for that reason I have been publicly very, very critical of the Irish Government," he said.
He added that the defence of the IMC report by the nationalist SDLP was "disgraceful, as are that party leadership's assurances to Mr Blair that Tuesday's publication of the report 'had the potential to be a good day for the peace process'".
Despite Sinn Fein's fury, Irish and British officials have been looking at the bright side.
Following a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference on Wednesday, British Direct Ruler Paul Murphy claimed that "the governments are not standing still, the process is not standing still".
Dublin's minister for foreign affairs, Brian Cowen, also said both governments were committed to "driving forward" the Good Friday Agreement.
In a joint communique the governments said they had reviewed political developments including the publication of the IMC report.
The statement emphasised that "the political process cannot flourish while the threat of paramilitarism persists and that stable politics in Northern Ireland requires the completion of the transition to exclusively peaceful and democratic means".
Thursday-Friday, 22-23 April, 2004
Family dismay at PSNI secrecy over Bangor murder
The family of a Catholic man murdered in Bangor last year have demanded to know why they the PSNI police never went public on the sectarian nature of the killing.
Michael O'Hare was killed in a fire at his flat in Bangor, Co Down, on March 1 last year. His family were unaware until the report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) was published this week that there was any paramilitary link to the killing.
The IMC did not make contact before publishing its report on paramilitary activity on Tuesday, despite the family seeking an update on the case from the PSNI police three days earlier.
By contrast, the British government delayed publication of the Cory Report into four controversial murders while people named in the reports were informed.
Mr O'Hare's family were shocked that his name was listed in the report without their knowledge.
"I am absolutely stunned that someone can have all this information and we don't know anything. Where did the IMC get this information from? The police never said it was paramilitary," the victim's mother Angela Noble said.
"Why didn't the IMC contact me? I am very annoyed. There is information coming from somewhere... I have been told nothing," she added.
The PSNI have now publicly confirmed for the first time that they believe the murder to have been sectarian, but have not confirmed that it was paramilitary.
In a statement issued through solicitor Adrian Travers, the family said: "The family of the late Michael O'Hare wish to reiterate their shock and anger at the content of the IMC report regarding the death of their son.
"The family feel they should have been consulted by the IMC before the release of the report because prior to the release of the said report there was no suggestion of any paramilitary involvement in their son's death from any quarter.
"The report has caused them considerable distress and they have instructed their solicitor to pursue the matter with the IMC."
The IMC declined to apologise to the O'Hare for the distress caused.
Thursday-Friday, 22-23 April, 2004
Analysis: IMC should apologise
Irish News
The International Monitoring Commission report published on Tuesday listed 12 people it said had been murdered by paramilitaries since January 1, 2003.
Included were the victims of loyalist feuding, as well as Gareth O'Connor, whose body has not been found but is presumed murdered.
The circumstances surrounding the killings of most of the others are well documented.
However, one name on the list was conspicuous by its presence.
Michael O'Hare (36) died following a suspicious fire at his Dufferin Avenue flat in Bangor, Co Down, in March 2003.
Days after the tragic incident, a 28-year-old man appeared in court charged with murder.
Until the publication of the IMC report, there had been no suggestion that this was a paramilitary killing or that police were treating the death of Mr O'Hare as sectarian.
Given that any sectarian murder would have far-reaching implications for the peace process, it is puzzling that the police appear to have kept this crucial information to themselves.
Despite the IMC apportioning blame, it remains unclear if their view is shared by the PSNI, which, intriguingly, says: "The murder was not attributed to any paramilitary organisation at the time."
The police service has refused to comment on whether or not the killing is now categorised as paramilitary.
In the midst of this confusion are the family of Mr O'Hare, who only found out that he had been named by the IMC when contacted by the Irish News.
Their shock at this revelation, and anger that the IMC failed to contact them in advance of publication, is entirely understandable.
The relatives of victims deserve better than this. Bodies such as the IMC may be dealing with big issues with big political ramifications, but the bereaved must not be regarded as peripheral figures, kept in the dark about matters which affect them most personally and directly.
At the very least, the family of Michael O'Hare should receive an apology from the IMC for failing to inform them in advance that his name was to be included in this major report.
Furthermore, questions must be asked about who the IMC believes was responsible for killing Mr O'Hare; when the police decided it was sectarian, and why this pertinent information was not made public before now.
Copyright © 2004 Irish News