DECOMMISSIONING DEPENDS ON POLITICAL PROCESS

IN their latest report the Independent International Decommissioning Commission has said that there has been no decommissioning by any of the main paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland.

However, the reports authors do note that the three main groups, the IRA, the UVF and the UFF have all re-affirmed the circumstances in which they might decommission. In particular, the IRA claim that it will only continue to engage in decommissioning talks if the political process continues.

Recent discussions with the IRA have centred on three key points: a commitment to put arms beyond use; the method that will be used to do this; and when such a process will begin.

In his report the head of the Commission General John de Chastelain said: “In each of our meetings we have been assured of the IRA’s commitment to put its arms beyond use, completely and verifiably, but only in the context of its statement of 6th May 2000.

“Taken in conjunction with the continued maintenance of the July 1997 ceasefire, and the opening of some IRA arms dumps to inspections by the International Inspectors, we believe that this conditional commitment is made in good faith.”

However, General de Chastelain said that the commission had been unable to establish how the IRA proposed to do this. He said: “The IRA has taken note of our need for this information, but until we know what method will be used, we cannot judge if it meets our remit. We should record that the representative has said he wishes to continue to engage with us on issues related to our remit as the political process continues.”

In conclusion General de Chastelain said that as the commission had been unable to meet either of the decommissioning target dates, some people had questioned the commission’s “usefulness to the process”. However, he said that the commission would continue to do what they could to implement the mandate through continued contact with the paramilitary groups.

Discussions had also been conducted with UVF and UFF representatives, but there had been no favourable outcome on decommissioning other than to re-iterate the position as already established - both organisations remain reluctant to decommission unless the IRA did so.

The commission reported that during their meetings with the IRA’s representative they had been reassured that the IRA would decommission, but only in the context of the IRA statement issued 14 months ago.

(SP)