Adams speaks outagainst violence

By Andrew Bushe and Anne Cadwallader

Sinn Fein believes violence “must for all of us be a thing of the past, over, done with and gone,” the party’s president, Gerry Adams, said in a statement two days before the arrival of President Bill Clinton in Belfast.

There have been repeated calls in the wake of the Omagh bombing for a statement from Sinn Fein that the 30-year “war is over” and an indication that weapons decommissioning — at least of the IRA’s Semtex explosives stockpile — should begin.

Adams’s statement on Tuesday, on the eve of the emergency recalls of the Dail and Westminster parliaments, had obviously involved behind-the-scenes negotiations involving both governments and the White House advance party in Ireland.

Adams’s statement followed shortly after a categorical denial by the Provisional IRA that it provided technical or material support to the dissident republicans responsible for the Omagh bombing that killed 28 people and injured more than 200.

In a lengthy statement issued last week, the Provisionals, who have long had links to Sinn Fein, also called on the so-called “Real IRA” to disband immediately. The statement also repeated an earlier IRA denial that it will decommission it weapons.

Adams’s statement said that everyone must work to make sure the Omagh bombing was the last violent incident in the country and that Sinn Fein was committed to making violence a thing of the past.

Within minutes of the statement it was welcomed in London an Dublin.

The taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, “warmly” welcomed the statement, saying it represented a “further positive contribution by Sinn Fein to the building of confidence and trust, and marks an important advance in the consolidation of the Good Friday Agreement.”

Ahern said a central principle of the agreement was the commitment to “exclusively democratic and peaceful means of resolving differences on political issues.”

Sinn Fein’s statement underlines its commitment, and that of the mainstream republican community it represents, to that crucial principle, he said.

Ahern also endorsed the Sinn Fein view that there is a shared responsibility to removing the causes of violence and achieving an end to all conflict.

“It is incumbent on all sides to discharge their respective responsibilities in that regard.”

In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman described the statement as a “significant and welcome move.”

There was a cautious welcome from the Unionist party and a spokesman for the Orange Order described it as “a start.”

“It is probably a lot of window dressing for the Clinton visit. The best thing he could do is say that the weapons are being handed in tomorrow,” a spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the Provisional IRA statement accuses the dissidents of “damaging” the struggle for Irish freedom and of setting about in a “deliberate and calculated way” to undermine the IRA’s leadership and strategy.

The statement says the Real IRA’s halt after the Omagh bombing is insufficient and that it should disband. Accusations that the Provisionals are assisting the Real IRA are cynical, hypocritical and ridiculous, the statement says.

More positively, recognizes potential for progress in the Stormont Agreement.

While the statement does not amount to saying the war is over, it appears intended to help the Irish and British governments by reaffirming the IRA’s commitment to its cease-fire and the peace process.

The detailed accusations by the IRA against the dissidents amount to charges of treachery, although the word isn’t used, and are a chilling warning, an ultimatum even, to them to disband.

The dissidents are accused of making a bid for IRA leadership last year, and when that failed, of trying to hijack the IRA’s name despite their apparently small numbers.

The statement says the Aug. 15 Omagh bombing was a tragedy of enormous proportions and praised the spirit of generosity shown by the families of the dead and injured.

It also said a special IRA unit has been set up to try to establish the bodies of the so-called “disappeared” — people who it killed over 20 years ago and whose bodies were never returned to their families.

The IRA statement acknowledges it has caused incalculable anguish and pain to the families of the disappeared and has committed itself to do all in its power to help them.

Difficulties are the lapse of time, changes in leadership and the deaths of some personnel, but, says the statement, when as complete a picture as possible has been established, the families will be informed.

British Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam also welcomed the IRA’s insistence on the Real IRA disbanding “sooner rather than later,” although she said more progress was needed on all fronts, including decommissioning.

Unionists have been critical of the statement and the Families of the Disappeared say whatever information the IRA has on the locations of their relatives’ bodies should be made known now to the authorities so technical equipment can be brought in to pinpoint their locations.

Mowlam said it was crucial that the IRA use whatever influence it has to get the dissidents responsible for the Omagh bombing to disband immediately.

But David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, said it was simply not good enough that the IRA still refused to say the war was over. He said the continuation of violence was “totally unacceptable.”

Ulster Unionist security spokesman Ken Maginnis called the IRA statement “chilling.” He said all the IRA was saying was that the so-called Real IRA was not as efficient as prosecuting republican aims.

There’s increasing speculation a majority within the Real IRA do want to call a cease-fire, but there are hardliners within the group who are reluctant to do so and are holding out.

Senior security sources in the Republic say a statement is imminent, following a meeting in County Clare last Tuesday when senior members of the group met to discuss tactics in the wake of the Omagh bombing.

Mickey McKevitt, the man believed to be the group’s leader, however, was not present at that meeting and it’s not known if he, and the hardline faction he leads in the Louth/South Armagh area, would support a cease-fire.

If a cease-fire is called, garda sources will be skeptical, believing that some members would prefer to lie low and wait until the aftermath of Omagh blows over before remounting a new campaign.

If the Real IRA does end its campaign, it will be the shortest-lived republican paramilitary group in Irish history, although this will be of little consolation to the families of the dead and injured in Omagh.

The 32 County Sovereignty group issued a statement this week accusing the Irish and British governments of instituting repressive laws. In the statement, the group admits it has a similar relationship to the so-called Real IRA that Sinn Fein has with the mainstream IRA.

The group claims that the only all-Ireland dimension of the Stormont Agreement is now cross-border repression. It predicts what it calls sham trials without real evidence or presumption of innocence with people jailed on the opinion of RUC members or gardai.

What will concern the two governments is that the group went on to say that such repression has in the past stimulated what it calls “other forms of resistance” to British rule and that will compound — not diminish — the Omagh tragedy.