By Jack Holland
BELFAST — Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams secretly met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London last week in an attempt to sort out the growing crisis in the peace process, the Irish Echo has learned.
According to a usually reliable source, top of the agenda for their hush-hush talks, which took place on Tuesday, Aug. 1, was the position of IRA members who are on the run — so-called OTRs. Adams was demanding that the British allow them to return to Northern Ireland without the threat of facing trial.
The British government has refused, saying that they should stand trial but if convicted that they would be released after as little as six months.
The Irish government has offered a compromise, suggesting that an independent body be set up to review the evidence on a case-by-case basis.
Also discussed were policing, and demilitarization, which Adams demanded be speeded up. Republicans believe that the British government has not delivered on its promise to implement the Patten Commission’s report on policing and they are deeply unhappy with what they regard as the slow process of demilitarization, especially in republican heartland of South Armagh, where there are fears of further defections to renegade republican groups.
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Sinn Fein is warning that unless these issues are addressed over the coming weeks, then another decommissioning gesture will not take place.
An Irish government source confirms that the issue of OTRs has been a difficult one since the start of the peace process.
The British government is "sensitive" about prisoners’ issues following the outrage many people felt about the recent releases of republican and loyalist paramilitaries who were convicted of some of the worst atrocities in the Troubles. Sources believe that it is unlikely that Blair or his Northern Ireland secretary of state, Peter Mandelson, would risk further conflict with the mainstream Unionists, who would be outraged at the prospect of anything which smacks of an amnesty being granted to IRA men wanted for serious offenses.
No one is certain of the number of OTRs involved. Some have been on the run for a decade or more. In such cases, convictions could be hard to obtain. With the passage of time, eyewitness identification (in cases where it exists) would become increasingly difficult to establish as suspects age. But even if convictions were obtained, the spectacle of yet another batch of convicted paramilitaries being released after serving as little as six months for serious crimes would generate further anger, particularly in the Unionist community.
Sources maintain that problems such as these make the OTR issue extremely hard to resolve.
"It is case-specific," said one. "Currently, the status of each case is unknown."
However, the Irish government is denying that there is a "crisis" over the matter.
During the discussion on demilitarization between the Sinn Fein leader and the prime minister, Adams suggested that the Irish taoiseach visit two military sites, one in a republican area and one in a loyalist area, to confirm that progress is being made in removing them.
Meanwhile, sources close to the republican movement claim that the Adams leadership in getting "bad feedback" from South Armagh republicans, who are angry over the continued heavy military presence in their area. Fears of defections to groups such as the Real IRA, which was responsible for the bombing of Omagh in August 1998, have led to pressure being put on the republican leadership. This has increased in the wake of the recent interception in Croatia of a major arms haul that was destined for the RIRA. One British newspaper reported that the shipment was part of a larger one which got through.