Seven Stars News Summary/Ireland 2/8/2000 for nytire@ursula; Sat, 12 Feb 2000 01:38:45 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - IRSP Tuesday, February 08, 2000 12:08 PM Seven Stars News briefs/ Ireland * * * * * * * Comrades, donations for the Derry Martyrs Memorial are still badly needed. If you have not yet donated and can afford to do so, please send whatever you can in contributions to the IRSCNA at 2057 15th Street, Suite B, San Francisco, CA 94114 USA. * * * * * * * Irish American Information Service COMMONS PASSES DIRECT RULE LEGISLATION The House of Commons has tonight backed legislation paving the way for direct rule from London to be re-imposed on the North. The second reading of the Northern Ireland Bill was approved by 352 votes to 11, a majority of 341. Earlier, the North's First Minister, David Trimble, told the Commons that, despite the setbacks, the peace process was still alive and that the current problems could be overcome. The Northern Secretary said that a pause would enable the North's institutions to be revived at a future date. The North's Deputy First Minister, Seamus Mallon, has said that the chances of actually achieving decommissioning would be greatly reduced if the political institutions were not 'around and functioning'. Seamus Mallon was speaking in the House of Commons. The Sinn Fiin leader has said that, if the institutions set up under the Belfast Agreement were suspended, he would have to consider what role the party and he himself could still play. * * * * * * * Sinn Fein May Legally Challenge Direct Rule By Edna Fernandes LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Sinn Fein may legally challenge the British government if it decides to press ahead with suspension of home-rule in Northern Ireland, party leader Gerry Adams said on Tuesday. Hours after holding emergency talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Adams said a legal challenge was one of the last-ditch options being considered by Sinn Fein if the British government decides to revert to direct rule in the province. Asked whether he had taken legal advice with a view to court action, Adams told Reuters: "At the moment our focus is to prevent it from being suspended. If we fail to do that then we will look at that. It is an option, yes." His comments came as Britain began moves to suspend the Northern Ireland government unless the Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerrilla movement started to disarm within days. The crisis was described by Adams as the greatest threat to peace so far. Sinn Fein's leader said it had taken legal advice on the issue, adding there was "no legal basis for suspension" of the self-rule. Adams' spokesman later told Reuters that Blair was aware of the possibility of a legal battle, but stressed that Sinn Fein had not given up on finding a way through the deadlock over IRA guerrilla decommissioning. "In the first instance, we haven't taken any formal decision on the legal option. We don't do that until after the British government suspend -- if they do suspend -- the institutions," said Adams' spokesman. "We're certainly not in the business of acknowledging defeat before we've got to the end of the process. When we get to that point, we'll do so with the understanding that going to a British court, taking the government to a British court is not a course of action that's usually conducive to winning. "But nonetheless, it will provide us with an opportunity to air all of the arguments on the issue and to raise our concerns about the issue again. But that's a matter we can worry about at the weekend." RESOLUTION HANGS ON POLITICAL WILL Earlier, Adams told a press conference he remained hopeful of a resolution being found before the weekend even though he thought decommissioning was a "bogus issue." "I remain certain that if there is a political will, this can be resolved before the weekend. If there is the political will. If there is not the politican will, then we are all in trouble." When asked to comment on the possibility that pro-British Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble may quit due to pressures from within his party, Adams said it was up to Trimble to show leadership. "There have been times when I've had to go to Sinn Fein and say 'back me or sack me'," adding that the peace process was bigger than its players. "The peace process is bigger than me. It's bigger than David Trimble or any other person involved...There is no reason for David Trimble to resign. None whatsoever." * * * * * * * UVF plan to wipe out LVF: Belfast Telegraph RUC chiefs warn officers of impending battle By Darwin Templeton RUC chiefs have issued a warning to officers that the UVF is preparing a province-wide purge against the LVF. An urgent message has been circulated to all stations amid growing fears of reprisals. Intelligence reports have revealed that UVF leaders ordered all their units to gather intelligence on the movements of LVF members in their areas after the killing of Richard Jameson in Portadown. They are now said to be ready to strike at a number of targets when the UVF command gives the go-ahead. Security chiefs blamed the LVF for the murder of Mr Jameson (46), who was gunned down outside his home on January 10. Guarding against UVF revenge attacks will place a further burden on the RUC as they grapple with a renewed threat from dissident republicans. A security source said: "The fact that this warning has been circulated indicates how seriously this threat is being taken. "After the killing of Jameson, we all expected there would be a revenge attack, but the UVF appears to be planning something on a larger scale. "We will be doing all we can to prevent these attacks, but it's not possible to guard everyone." Two men from Co Tyrone have been charged in connection with the killing of Mr Jameson. Loyalist sources said that the UVF may have had to widen its list of targets because leading LVF men in Mid-Ulster have gone to ground. Prison chiefs said they are aware of a general threat to LVF-linked inmates. Mark "Swinger" Fulton has claimed he was informed he was on a UVF death-list. And another loyalist dissident, currently awaiting trial on an explosives charge, has been visited by police in Maghaberry and warned. * * * * * * * "Pause Or Bust" Warning On Ulster Self-Rule By Trevor Mason, Parliamentary Editor, PA News A stark warning that it was "pause or bust" for Northern Ireland's devolved institutions was issued tonight by Ulster Secretary Peter Mandelson. As MPs began the emergency debate on reimposing direct rule from Westminster, Mr Mandelson said it was in no one's interests to see "these fragile institutions shatter irreversibly". A pause, he said, would help "preserve the institutions -- save them for the future and enable them to revived at a future date". Opening second reading debate on the Northern Ireland Bill, Mr Mandelson said he still hoped it would prove unnecessary to implement it. Intensive talks continued to try to find a way out of the impasse on decommissioning of terrorist weapons. There remained the possibility of a second report from General de Chastelain's decommissioning body, he disclosed. Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness (Mid Ulster) sat impassively in the public gallery, just above the heads of Ulster Unionists, as Mr Mandelson delivered a sombre assessment of the situation. Mr McGuinness has not sworn the Oath of Allegiance and is unable to sit in the main body of the chamber itself. In a plea to paramilitaries to help move the logjam on decommissioning, Mr Mandelson stressed the important role this would have in confidence building. "If the war is over, why do arms still need to be retained?" he demanded. "If violence is a thing of the past, why can't weapons of violence be put permanently beyond use?" The Bill is being rushed through all its Commons stages tonight. The Lords holds its second reading debate tomorrow with the remaining stages on Thursday, in time for the measure to receive Royal Assent by Friday. That would enable Mr Mandelson to suspend the Executive and Assembly before Saturday's crucial meeting of the ruling council of First Minister David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party. MPs backed, without a vote, the seven hour timetable for considering the Bill. But there were repeated protests from Unionists and Tories over the Government's failure to publish the de Chastelain report. Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Andrew Mackay said it was difficult for the House to consider the issues without having seen the report and accused ministers of "riding roughshod" over its rights. Mr Mandelson said the report was not the "property" of the British Government alone, but the property of the British and Irish Governments. "Both Governments have agreed that for the time being there is no further useful purpose served by publishing the report because it does not contain additional information other than that which I have already given the House." He again pledged that if a further report is delivered, both would be published. Mr Mandelson said that although intensive talks on decommissioning continued, he had no further "substantive progress" to report. "It is therefore necessary to put this legislation in place so that ... we can create a pause in the operation of Northern Ireland's devolved political institutions from the end of this week." Cross-community consensus had been "severely dented by the absence of credible progress on decommissioning". On every other front, the Good Friday agreement had brought a "better way of life" than ever before. Mr Mandelson stressed that confidence building was not "a one-way street". Confidence had slumped on both sides of the community. "Actual, verifiable decommissioning is vital if we are to retain the faith of all parties in the Agreement, not just by the IRA, but by all the paramilitary organisations." He acknowledged that no guarantees had been given on the handover of arms but warned that it was not just the continued absence of decommissioning that was causing the current difficulty. "It is the uncertainty about whether decommissioning will ever happen and, if so, when and on what terms." Mr Mandelson applauded the fact that the IRA's guns remained silent and their expressed desire for a "permanent peace". But weapons must be put "permanently beyond use". Politicians were not faced with a choice between "suspension and imperfect continuation of the Executive. "It is a choice between suspending the institutions or seeing them progressively and quite rapidly collapse in the face of plummeting confidence. "It is not a choice between suspension and carrying on as we are. It is a choice between pause or bust in the institutions." He added: "Delay will not buy us time. It will only make the landing harder..." Public opinion on both sides of the sectarian divide -- not just the de Chastelain Commission -- had to be satisfied that decommissioning had begun, Mr Mandelson said. That was the "bottom line that has to be satisfied", he stressed. Labour's Gordon Prentice (Pendle) said loyalist paramilitaries had not begun giving up their weapons either. He demanded to know why the Government was responding to an "artificial deadline that's been imposed by the Ulster Unionist Party". Mr Mandelson said all paramilitary groups had not begun decommissioning but some of the loyalist groups had given an undertaking that they would begin decommissioning once the IRA did. "That is progress and that is something that we can tuck under our belt but we have to be realistic about this ... The biggest stumbling block is the inability of the Provisional IRA even to address the need to give a clear and unequivocal indication of their intention to decommission, let alone when they're going to do so and how they're going to do so." He said that "without any sense of recrimination or threat or anything else". He suggested a way forward might be to hold a "national day of reconciliation when all relevant bodies might act together to take action that might provide reassurance to the others". Mr Mandelson said that was "a creative and imaginative suggestion" although he refused to concede "an equivalence" between British army and illegally held weapons. If the Assembly and Executive was suspended, all ministers and committee chairmen would be automatically re-appointed once the institutions were restored, the minister stressed. "These are serious steps but steps which in the absence of any progress will, I believe, preserve the institutions from collapse and enable us to revive them at the earliest possible date." Mr Mandelson said the bomb attack on the hotel in Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh, on Sunday "reminds us that there are still people who, tragically, prefer violence and chaos to peace and stability". He expressed sympathy for all those people in the town "whose property has been destroyed and whose peace has been shattered". He declared: "These futile, cowardly assaults on the overwhelming will of the people are what the Good Friday Agreement sought to end." As anti-Agreement unionists protested, Mr Mandelson stressed the Agreement was the best anyone could expect, a "near-perfect settlement" that would not be improved on if the peace process collapsed and negotiations began all over again. Legislating to suspend the institutions was meant to "guard its integrity and the confidence of all sides in it". Mr Mackay said the Opposition agreed wholeheartedly with Mr Mandelson's remarks about Sunday's bomb attack. It was important to send a "clear message to the men of violence, wherever they happen to come from" that such "dastardly" action would never succeed, he said. Tories "strongly supported" the move to suspend the Executive and had done so since it became clear that substantial decommissioning was unlikely to happen by this stage of the process, Mr Mackay told the House. But it was "an extremely sad day for the people of Northern Ireland" because direct rule was "very much second best". They had been "hoping and praying" decommissioning would happen but had been "dreadfully let down", he said. Everyone involved "has been let down by Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA because they have failed to deliver on decommissioning which it was understood would come forward once the Executive was in place", he said. If the Assembly and Executive were suspended, it was "essential" decommissioning began before they were reinstated, Mr Mackay declared. But, if the de Chastelain commission was able to report progress, the suspension should be lifted immediately, he added. Turning to the question of prisoner releases, he insisted Conservatives were right to have called for them to be stopped until arms were handed in. "We sincerely and deeply believe that if we had stopped prisoner releases earlier, decommissioning would have started." The SDLP's Seamus Mallon (Newry and Armagh), Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, asked why it was necessary for Mr Mandelson to be able to suspend the institutions by Friday. It should not happen if there was "any chance" of progress. Mr Mackay told him it was "not right, practical or possible in a democratic and civilised society" for some people to have to work in government alongside others who were still linked to private armies. He would take a "huge, huge, huge amount of convincing" that further timetables or undertakings should be accepted in place of actual decommissioning. Mr Mackay said if it was necessary to suspend the Executive he hoped it would be for the shortest period possible. "I hope that this House sends a clear, unanimous message to the men of violence today, that there is no way they will ever achieve their objectives and that the right way forward is through the democratic process." He added: "I don't think they will be easily forgiven if they do not grasp that opportunity quickly. The eyes of the world will be on them and I hope and pray that they are listening." Mr Trimble said the Bill was one which he had hoped would not be necessary to bring before the House. He spoke of his disappointment in being brought to this stage. There had been a stalemate on the decommissioning issue since March last year but despite that Unionists had been willing to "jump first" in the peace process. He said that was not an easy decision to make because there was the fear among the party that they would be "strung along" by paramilitaries. Mr Trimble said direct rule was the "third best" option. "Treating Northern Ireland properly is the second best, but I think the best of all is in fact to see devolution succeed within the UK, which is what we're trying to do through the Belfast Agreement and through the implementation of the Belfast Agreement." He hoped suspension of devolution was "temporary", but while it was in place there should also be consideration of matters such as prisoner release and the RUC reform recommendation by former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten. Mr Trimble said "tremendous" damage was done to confidence in Northern Ireland by the Patten Commission's "ill-judged report". "People in Northern Ireland ... will find it incomprehensible if those deeply wounding changes are proceeded with as if nothing had happened, as if the default by the Republicans was something that was going to be glossed over and the continued introduction of radical changes in order to appease them went ahead as if nothing had happened," he said. Ulster Unionists' objective was to work for restoration of devolution and the Executive "on a sound basis" and "resolving the present difficulty". The Ulster Unionist Council would "consider the situation" on Saturday before making a judgment. "People should not regard this as being a crisis - it's a difficulty. They should not regard it as being the end of the hopes the agreement engendered - but just as a problem that we will work through. "It is important that we should retain confidence in our ability to work through this problem and to retain confidence that the hopes that agreement contains will be fully realised." Mr Mallon said his definition of peace was "not having to wake up and listen to who was killed the night before". He asked if the Bill would have been presented to the Commons now if the Ulster Unionists' meeting was not scheduled for this weekend. Mr Mallon said he was opposed to suspension because there was "no guarantee" that it would resolve the problem. The chances of actually achieving decommissioning would be "greatly reduced" if the political institutions were not around and functioning, he said. Suspension played into the hands of those people, including some Unionists, who were opposed to the agreement. * * * * * * * We Need To Understand Ira View, Says Major By Martin Evans, Political Staff, PA News Former Prime Minister John Major tonight suggested that the leaders of Sinn Fein might want to begin decommissioning but did not yet have the support of their movement. During the emergency debate on reimposing direct rule from Westminster, Mr Major said MPs should put themselves in the minds of the IRA to appreciate the dilemma as they saw it. "This House of democrats does not agree with the IRA but it is instructive to try and understand the perspective they may have, for it is always useful to see into the minds of those you are dealing with," he said. Mr Major, who is credited with beginning the current peace process by holding talks with Republicans when he was in office, said decommissioning was a difficult proposition for Sinn Fein and the IRA to deliver. "Decommissioning is not just the decision of one or two leaders of Sinn Fein or the IRA," he explained. It required the consent of the army council and a full meeting of volunteers. He added: "It is possible that the leaders of Sinn Fein and IRA are prepared to begin decommissioning but do not know how to do so, or do not have the courage or the confidence or the support at this moment of their movements." It was possible that the leaders of Sinn Fein and the IRA had never intended to disarm at all. "But if that is the case then in my judgment they misled the nationalist community as well as they misled everybody else," he said. Mr Major said that it was important to remember that when Sinn Fein made statements they were also addressing their hardliners as well as the British Govern- ment. "We should not fall into the trap of giving their hardliners the opportunity of making life even more difficult for them and hence for this process," he said. Mr Major said that when the Government had recently talked about a "seismic shift" in the peace process he had assumed that private commitments had been made. "Either that was careless talk, which I doubt, or the Government were misled. Either way it is clear that the seismic shift has not sadly taken place." But he said over the years a great deal of progress had been made, with old hatreds being disentangled and old opponents working together in a way quite unprecedented at any time in recent years. "Nationalism and Unionism have learned a great deal, one about the other as they have worked together over the last few months." Mr Major said in recent times a hope had been born in the province which had not previously been there. "And now almost at the very final hurdle there is a stumble and optimism turns to despair," he said. He said although he did not expect decommissioning to begin in the next few days he did not anticipate a return to the "old antagonisms". The decision to suspend the executive would offer time for discussions and negotiations in order to find a way out of the "box which we find ourselves in". "The sensible democrat helps the embryonic democrat to find a way to democracy and that is what London, Dublin and Belfast have been doing for years with active involvement of the democratic political parties on both sides of the divide." Mr Major said it was vital that the Government did not under- estimate the progress which had been made or what existed to build upon if the present ambitions fell apart. "We should try above all not to despair but to preserve the gains of recent years which are substantial," he said. "We should pass this Bill today without enthusiasm, but pass it none the less." He urged everyone involved not to return to the "trenches of the past". * * * * * * * Excerpts from The Dissenter On-line Irish Republican Newspaper Principles and Failure. The American, British, and Irish media have lately gone wild in a hail-storm of condemnation against the Provisionals as the days draw nearer to the British Government re-imposing "Plan B" or a return to full British rule over the six northern Already British occupied counties. To Irish Republicans a return to full rule will be not much different than the current sham of this so called "devolved" governing "Power-sharing" body, the Stormont regime. The British already rule the six counties, they own it legitimately according their version of the Good Friday Agreement. It is their governing body and their money which runs the north. They control the armed occupation forces and British crown so-call police forces such as "Policing Service of Northern Ireland" or the RUC, Royal Ulster Constabulary. The British are laying down the preparations for a return to full rule, to take over their current failed "Plan A" of the current British backed sectarian ruled parliamentary body . But what is most amazing is that the younger and ignorant alleged leadership, who took over the larger Provisional Movement back in 1986 and broke away dissenting from a Traditional Republican course, has failed in their flawed analysis. Gerry Adams and his plans to be in power, to become the largest political party has failed, because his grassroots - whom he and the Provo leadership has mislead and lied to for the last five years - have finally dug their heals into the ground. Those Grass roots -representing the so-called Provisional "Irish Republican Army" (which on the surface it appears), will refuse to decommission its weapons even if it risks the full downfall and the Provos main thrust of political objectives - so we are lead to believe in the press reports. The Provos so-called 'army' (though Republicans consider it more of a militia in that it is partisan to only the Provisional leadership goals and is not active as an army opposing the British crown forces occupying their country) has, instead, ceased it activities against the British while it has increased its activities inside it own communities. The Provos have formed so called 'policing squads', who have began to attack and harass former comrades and Irish Republicans who still opposed the British instigated so-called peace process. Now the Provos are looking to save face while continuing to administer British rule as part of the Stormont regime. In order to do so, they must first decommission the weapons originally acquired to throw the British out of Ireland. The British PA news service recently listed such armaments and munitions required for the war against the British armed colonial forces as : " 3 tons of Semtex plastic explosive, 600 detonators, 650 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 30-plus Armalite assault rifles, One or two 50-caliber sniping rifles, 40 rocket launchers.- One or more SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles, and 6 flamethrowers." To say the "Plan A" of the British has failed would be incorrect for it's obvious they have succeeded in what they set out to do: effectively destroy the and weaken the Republican Movement and in particular Provisional movement. It's also obvious that the Provos have also failed, since the bulk of their movement left in 1986 to go down a partitionist road to accept the Free State as being legitimate, to accept to take seats in Stormont, to accept to administer British rule . The fact of the matter is, most Republicans don't like to face the hard painful "reality" that their analysis and the path they were steered has been proven wrong. The grand "Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness Plan" has, quite simply, failed. Largely this failure has been brought about by a very simple erosion of Republican political principles and ideology . The Provos followed the idea that they would do what ever it took to allegedly reach their goal. But today, they are far from achieving that goal indeed. The Dissenter is reminded of an insightful speech on attaining republican goals, made by a much younger Gerry Adams in 1986. In this speech, Adams compared reaching the movement's goal to that of the goal of getting to Cork City. Adams then stated the following illustration of what was to befall the Provo political course: "The Objective may can be compared, perhaps in a silly way, to a destination which we want to travel to. For example, let us say for some unimaginable reason somebody persuaded us that if a hundred of us could get to Cork City by next week we could use our combined skills there to secure a much better way of life and that this was conditional only on a hundred of us getting there. "Of course there would be obstacles on our route which would have to be overcome but these would be merely logistical difficulties which could be overcome by hand picking our contingent. "Now, if a hundred of us were persuaded to set off for Cork merely because of rhetoric we wouldn't have traveled very far outside this hall before doubts would set in. After walking for a while some of us would be tired and drop out. They only went along for the craic. They hadn't really thought it out . After some time some of us would get hungry. They would also drop out. "Somewhere else along the route somebody else may decide, for example that Cashell is as nice a place as Cork and anyway they never really intended to go further from the start. "In the course of the journey recriminations would start- it's better going this or that--its better doing it like this -- so eventually if any of us ever got to Cork our original one hundred would have diminished and those remaining would be disunited and divided. However , if first we got agreement on going to Cork, and agreement on what that meant, we could more easily get agreement on how to get there. "We could deploy our selves accordingly, developing a policy from this basis and planning our strategy and tactics to suit our resources, and the prevailing conditions. "We could agree to take a bus, or a train or even to walk. We could know that not everybody wanted to go the whole way but if we planned accordingly on the short term objectives we could pick up new recruits on route. We could even agree on going from bus-stop to bus-stop, from short term objective to short term objective, taking the maximum number with us each time. "The important thing of course is that those really committed to getting to Cork would be in charge and that they would proceed with the maximum support from the maximum number involved. In that that way we would arrive united and intact." Indeed it would appear that Gerry Adams had a plan in his mind from the very start, as is evident from his statement "We could know that not everybody want to go the whole way but if we planned accordingly on the short term objectives we could pick up new recruits on route" "New recruits along the route" is exactly what the Provos have done. But, it was not the new recruits but old loyal members who appear to be putting up the largest obstacle in the way of Gerry Adam's and Martin McGuinness's goals, rather those same people were those really committed to getting to Cork . Ironically the two people, who told a historic Sinn Fiin Ard Fheis back in 1986 that the armed struggle would not cease till the British were out and that there was no possibility of taking office seats in a new Stormont regime, had (as Gerry stated in his example) in essence found their own "Cashell". Yes, they both found that Cashell was a nice as a place as Cork , that administering British rule in a new Stormont with highly paid salaries for the British and alleged human and civil rights under British rule, was "as nice as a place as Cork." The Provos were fully prepared to attack or intimidate their own republicans and recruit new blood into the party as well as their front support groups in America and elsewhere, in in order to achieve their new goals and settle into Cashell. This week Martin McGuinness "warned that if the institutions in the North are suspended or collapsed it will be the greatest disaster to befall Ireland in the past hundred years. " according the report on the Free State run Radio RTE. It appears the man doesn't seems to think that his personal position as Minister for Education, within a sectarian based British regime while administering British rule to Ireland , is the far more important than any number of atrocities committed by the British or in Irish Civil War by that of the Free State, nor the first and second world wars. Today Republicans now look on the Provos as fools, as ignorant of their own enemy who has every step of the way continued un-relentlessly to make their lives tougher and tougher. The British have no love for people like Gerry Adams, particularly when he is so shallow as to kiss their ring and hop when they say to - he no longer even commands their respect. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-02.12.00-01:38:35-1108