BY PAUL DAVIES
MANCHESTER, England - "Those who demand the
decommissioning of IRA weapons lend themselves in the current
political context...to the failed agenda which seeks the
defeat of the IRA. The British government have the power to
change that context and must do so. It remains our view that
the roots of the conflict in our country lie in British
involvement in Irish affairs," read a statement issued by the
Irish Republican Army (IRA) on July 21.
The statement was issued following the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) refusal to participate in the executive of the newly formed Northern Ireland Assembly. UUP officials said they would not be seated alongside Sinn Fein, the party that is leading the struggle to end British rule in Ireland.
The IRA's statement targeted the British government's "lack of political will to confront the unionist veto," and reaffirmed the republican organization's determination not to surrender their weapons.
Despite heavy use of its armed forces, the British government failed for more than 30 years to break the struggle for civil rights and for a united Ireland. This failure led it to restructure its rule and enter negotiations with the Republic of Ireland and a broad range of political parties in the British-occupied north of Ireland. The process culminated in the adoption of an agreement last year that was to have led to the establishment of new political institutions.
Since then the British rulers and pro-British Unionist political forces have continually pressed the IRA to surrender weapons in the hope that they can take back ground and stall the process of political change.
British secretary of state for Northern Ireland Marjorie Mowlam termed the IRA statement as "unhelpful."
Reginald Empey of the Ulster Unionist Party claimed the IRA was trying "to bully and browbeat the British government," while the London Times ran an editorial describing the statement, in a quote from UUP leader David Trimble, as "menacing words."
The editorial demanded Labour Party prime minister Anthony Blair back the Unionist demands for the surrender of IRA weapons. It also insisted the government halt any reform of Britain's police force in Northern Ireland, known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Reflecting the concern among some in the British establishment that they had given up too much in the face of the rising resistance of Irish nationalists, the Conservative party demanded the government halt the release of all republican prisoners.
The decision of the UUP to refuse to attend the Northern Ireland Assembly and to put forward candidates for its executive provoked the resignation of its Deputy First Minister Designate Seamus Mallon. Mallon is a member of the reformist nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party.
The stance of the Unionists reflects their declining political confidence, following further advances made by Irish nationalists. In the previous weeks residents of the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Northern Ireland, were able to prevent the rightist Orange Order from marching through their community for the second year running.
The British government now intends to put the formation of the assembly's executive "into review" in September, and has recalled former U.S. senator George Mitchell to handle negotiations between the parties in the north of Ireland. Commenting on this latest British schedule, Sinn Fein vice president Pat Doherty said, "The one thing for sure is that we cannot allow the Unionists to use this review as just another stalling exercise."