Adams to USA on FARC 'Inquiry" - Stuff It

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

source - Reuters Via Yahoo - April 23, 2002

Sinn Fein's Adams Says 'No' to U.S. Probe 

By Kevin Smith 

BELFAST (Reuters) - Irish nationalist Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams
said Tuesday he would not attend a U.S. congressional hearing into
alleged links between his party's Irish Republican Army ally and
Colombian FARC guerrillas.

Adams had kept the investigation guessing about whether he would
testify this week following the arrest in Colombia last year of three
suspected IRA men charged with training FARC rebels.

He said he had received legal advice that the U.S. hearing and his
attendance at it could prejudice the men's trial.

In a letter to the powerful House of Representatives International
Relations Committee in Washington, Adams said he was also concerned
the issue was being used to undermine Sinn Fein's contribution to
Northern Ireland's peace process to end three decades of
Protestant-Roman Catholic conflict.

He said he believed the arrests were being used as part of a "wider
agenda" in South America, where the United States is eager to combat
drug trafficking and could beef up military aid.

"For all these reasons, and also following legal advice ... I feel
compelled to respectfully decline your invitation to testify," Adams
said.

The Sinn Fein president told a news conference in Belfast he had
offered to meet the congressional committee when he was next in
Washington. But a party spokesman told Reuters this was unlikely to
be before October.

PARTY UNDER PRESSURE

The U.S. government has labeled FARC -- left-wing rebels heavily
involved in the drugs trade and waging a 38-year-old war against
Colombian authorities -- a terrorist organization.

Proof the IRA -- which is party to Northern Ireland's 1998 peace deal
and has held a cease-fire for most of the past seven years -- had
been helping the group could raise awkward questions for Sinn Fein in
Washington where in recent years the party has gained readier access
to policy makers.

The case could also dent Sinn Fein's fund-raising capability in the
United States. The party draws the bulk of its financial support from
Irish Americans.

"Terrorism imperils Colombian democracy, and the alleged IRA role in
helping groups like the FARC perpetuate this violence poses a direct
threat to U.S. national interests," said Sam Stratton, spokesman for
Rep. Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican who heads the foreign
affairs committee.

Irishmen Martin McCauley, James Monaghan, and Niall Connolly, who was
Sinn Fein's representative in Cuba, face trial on charges of training
the guerrillas in bomb-making techniques.

The trio were traveling on false passports and had spent weeks in the
demilitarized jungle and savannah enclave controlled by FARC in
southern Colombia.

Adams reiterated previous assertions that the IRA had not sent the
men to Colombia and that the group posed no threat to U.S. national
security interests there.

He also said his commitment to the Northern Ireland peace process was
a factor in his decision in light of a series of allegations about
IRA activity in the province which have raised concerns about its
commitment to peace.

Sinn Fein has accused elements within the British establishment of
using "dirty tricks" to undermine the peace process, and to damage
the party's credibility ahead of a general election in the Irish
republic next month.

The party currently has one seat in the 166-member Irish parliament.

Adams' decision not to attend the Colombia hearing drew a scathing
response from both sides of British-ruled Northern Ireland's
political divide.

The moderate Protestant Ulster Unionist Party said it was time for
the Sinn Fein leader and the IRA to "grow up, tell the truth, and
accept their responsibilities."

The moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labor Party meanwhile,
asked what Sinn Fein had to hide.

"Sinn Fein call for accountability of others for their actions but
appear to wish to avoid accountability for their own actions," it
said in a statement.

 
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