Adams ordered to appear at Omagh court case

SINN FÉIN president Gerry Adams has been ordered to appear at the North's High Court as part of a multi-million pound civil action by relatives of Omagh bomb victims.

Martin McGuinness, Pat Doherty, Brian Gillen and Brian Keenan, all alleged members of IRA's ruling army council, have also been subpoenaed by lawyers.

The High Court action is due to start later this year when relatives of some of the 29 victims seek stg£10 million compensation from the gang they blame for the August 1998 outrage.

Papers served in Belfast claim Mr Adams and the other four led the IRA when Michael McKevitt, another Provo chief, quit to head up the republican dissident group which bombed Omagh. All five have always denied being members of the Provisional IRA.

But lawyers believe they could provide information about republican strategy at the time McKevitt quit in a bitter row over Sinn Féin's involvement in the peace process.

McKevitt, the IRA's former quartermaster general, is one of the five Real IRA suspects being sued by the relatives in a civil action.

A source close to the legal team said last night: "These men were present at five key meetings which led to McKevitt resigning and forming the Real IRA. They are material witnesses who can give evidence about McKevitt's role in that."

The legal team has listed five secret Provisional IRA meetings in the run-up to McKevitt's resignation they want to know more details about.

These include a general IRA convention in October 1996 and a joint meeting of the republican group's army council and executive in July 1997. Another meeting of the army council and executive on August 27, 1997, and an extraordinary general army convention at Gweedore, Co Donegal, in October that year have also been highlighted. Finally, it is claimed on October 23, 1997 10 months before Omagh there was a meeting of the IRA's executive, at which McKevitt resigned.

"The legal inquiries indicate these five people who have been subpoenaed were members of the IRA's army council during 1997," a source said.

A spokesman for Mr Adams last night said he had not been made aware of the court summons.