Analysts believe the IRA will follow through on present promises to completely disarm, reports Ahmed Reda from London In a surprise move, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) announced last week that its decades-long armed struggle against British rule in Northern Ireland was over; that it would continue to press its political viewpoint only through peaceful, democratic means. The announcement came within weeks of terrorist bombings that left scores of people killed in London. Despite the fact that the IRA issued similar statements in the past, most analysts expect the military group to honour its promise given current circumstances. The war that Britain is currently waging against terrorist cells is gaining popular support and would not allow any operation by the IRA to go unlinked. The IRA and its political ally, Sinn Fein, also have found themselves on the defensive in recent months over a $50 million Belfast bank robbery and the killing of a Catholic man by IRA members. The IRA proposed having a Catholic priest and a Protestant vicar oversee the destruction of its arsenal, which by some reports includes well over 100 tonnes of weapons, many of them latest issue. Leaders of Britain and Ireland welcomed the declaration, saying if the IRA followed through, it could signal a historic shift. The IRA has been blamed for 1,800 deaths, about half the total in the 35 years since Northern Ireland's "troubles" began. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "This may be the day when finally, after all the false dawns and dashed hope, peace replaced war; politics replaced terror in Ireland. This is a step of unparalleled magnitude in the recent history of Northern Ireland." Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, said the announcement yesterday was a declaration that a war had ended. "All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms," the organisation said in its statement, which was read on camera by former IRA prisoner Seanna Walsh, in contrast to previous IRA statements which have been anonymous, and distributed to reporters on DVD. It added: "All volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programs through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever." The statement came after years of stalemate over implementation of the 1998 "Good Friday" peace accord, which called for power sharing in Northern Ireland and the disarmament of illegal militias. The power-sharing scheme between Catholics and Protestants proved to be an uneasy arrangement and broke down in 2002 over charges of spying and disputes over the IRA's failure to disarm and disband. This week's move, which drew praise from the Irish government, Washington and the pope, was heralded as a second chance to get peace on track, to show that politics can replace terrorism if leaders can put aside old hatreds. The old goals do remain, that has to be understood. Many in the minority Roman Catholic community yearn to see the British province unite with the Irish republic to the south, while the majority of Protestants wants to remain a part of Britain. It will be difficult to paper over such differences. The announcement, which comes more than two years after the British suspended self-rule in the province, clarifies the growing political power of Sinn Fein and testifies to its sustained popularity in Northern Ireland. It also came as Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell said last week that Adams and chief Sinn Fein negotiator Martin McGuinness had recently resigned from the IRA's military council. Adams and McGuinness deny that they served on the council. Adams, reputedly a former IRA commander, has never admitted belonging to the organisation. Prior to the "historic" announcement, numerous reports and politicians expressed hope that the IRA would take such a move, especially after being on the defensive over its tactics, all the more so since the attacks on the United States of 11 September. It lost significant support since then among its Catholic backers in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United States, and it was further pressed in January when several IRA members were held responsible for the killing of a Catholic man in a bar brawl in Belfast. Despite garnering international praise, Protestant unionist leaders reacted sceptically to the IRA's announcement, offering a lukewarm welcome, saying the IRA had made several "historic" statements in the past that amounted to nothing. Ian Paisley, leader of the Protestants, and as such the man on the other side of the negotiation table with Adams, expressed reservations. He said the announcement was void of remarks by IRA commanders regarding an end to criminal activities -- most notably bank robberies -- that, along with contributions from Irish-Americans among others, have long funded the organisation. Paisley stressed that the IRA commanders "have failed to explicitly declare an end to their multimillion-pound criminal activity, and they have failed to provide the level of transparency that will be necessary to truly build confidence that the guns have gone in their entirety." A dramatic point was reached as Paisley insisted that photographs verify promises regarding the destruction of the IRA's arsenal. Adams has said such photographs would be an unwarranted humiliation that would inaccurately convey a message of surrender rather than agreement. The IRA decision to lay down arms, in all likelihood, will contribute immensely to boosting the image of Sinn Fein and accordingly give a much-awaited positive push to the peace process. While clashes since the Good Friday accords have been ongoing, a fragile peace has on the whole been maintained. Irish media described the announcement from the republican side as a step forward within the parameters of the long-term aims of Adams and McGuinness. Be that as it may, many would welcome the disappearance of the gun from Irish politics.
