IRA says ceasing all armed activity in N.Ireland

[Martrae]

Jul 28, 9:02 AM (ET)

By Jodie Ginsberg

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Irish Republican Army guerrilla group formally announced an end to its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland on Thursday but gave no commitment to disband as some of its opponents had urged.

Despite the announcement, the province's main Protestant political party said a political deal to restore local government in the province was still a long way off, insisting it wanted action not words from its Catholic foe.

The IRA said in a statement it would cease all armed activity and pursue its aims through politics -- a crucial move to kick-start talks on a lasting political settlement in the violence-torn province. It said its units must "dump arms."

But it made no explicit reference to ending criminal activity -- a major stumbling block to the peace process -- nor did it promise to disband, a move the group that has fought for decades for a united Ireland sees as akin to surrender.

The statement, seen by Reuters, read in part:

"The leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann (IRA) has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign.

"This will take effect from 4 p.m. this afternoon. All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programs through exclusively peaceful means."

The IRA said it would engage with an independent arms decommissioning body to verify it had put its massive arsenal of guns and explosives beyond use, but gave no date for completion.

"We have invited two independent witnesses, from the Protestant and Catholic churches, to testify to this," it added.

Talks on reviving an assembly, set up under the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement for Catholics and Protestants to run the province's affairs together, broke down in December after the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) demanded photos of arms being destroyed. The IRA refused such "humiliation."

It has allowed international monitors to witness three private acts of decommissioning but would not permit them to reveal any details about the weapons.

PROOF NEEDED

The IRA had been expected to outline plans for its future since April, when its political ally Sinn Fein called for the guerrillas to end armed struggle.

A high-profile robbery and murder blamed on the IRA fanned calls for it to disband and sparked harsh censure of Sinn Fein from traditional supporters, notably in the United States.

Earlier on Thursday, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams promised the widely anticipated statement would "challenge" all parties to the Northern Ireland conflict.

But, speaking before the IRA statement became public, the DUP, which favors continued union with Britain, said a deal on reviving a suspended local assembly was still months away.

"I am saying now the proof of the pudding is in the eating and digesting of it," said Ian Paisley, firebrand DUP leader.

"We've heard it all before. You can wrap it up any way you like ... put a new bit of ribbon on the package but we want the action, the proof this is happening," he told BBC Television.

The DUP said it would respond formally later on Thursday.

It refuses to talk directly to Sinn Fein, still less sit in government with it, while it maintains links to the paramilitary organization.

The IRA arsenal, used to wage a 30-year campaign against British rule until a 1997 cease-fire, has long been the main obstacle to a political deal. Some 3,600 people died during Northern Ireland's "Troubles," half of them killed by the IRA.

Sinn Fein was to hold press conferences in Dublin and Washington at 1500 GMT and briefings in London and Brussels at the same time. The Irish and British governments were also expected to make a formal response.

[Zanchief]

Oh well. There goes the Christian extremist terrorist duality I love to point out.

[mofish]

No need to worry. Itll pop up somewhere else eventually. As long as people have religion, there will be violence, death and destruction.

[brinstar]

look at the white house there's some christian extremist terrorism going on there daily

[Narrock]

As long as everyone would just acknowledge the fact that Christianity is the only true religion then everything would be fine. But we have all these assclowns running around worshiping this and that, and everything has been blown out of proportion and gotten convoluted. That's how wars, death and destruction happen.





































































lol gotcha!

[Darcler]

GOOD ONE

[brinstar]

facts can be proven