14/08/2001

IRA withdraws from decommissioning strategy

The IRA has said it is withdrawing its proposed decommissioning scheme, announced last week, for putting arms beyond use.

In a statement issued on Tuesday August 14, the IRA said the political conditions “did not exist to progress its proposition”.

A statement by the IRA had been expected since last Friday August 10 when the Northern Ireland Secretary of State briefly suspended the political institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement for 48 hours.

On 8 August, the IRA agreed a scheme for putting arms beyond use with the International Commission on Decommissioning. That proposal has now been withdrawn.

The August 14 announcement issued by the IRA states that “the Ulster Unionist Party leadership’s outright rejection” of a report by the head of the decommissioning body, Canadian General John de Chastelain, was “totally unacceptable”.

The General had recently confirmed that the IRA had agreed a method of putting arms beyond use. However, because no timescale was agreed, the Ulster Unionist Party and the DUP roundly rejected the General’s determination that the IRA had entered into a decommissioning process.

It is unclear whether the IRA leadership intends to continue contact with the decommissioning body through its representative, but the statement indicates that they would “monitor developments”. (AMcE)

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