Britain denies armed conflict in the North

DESPITE thousands of deaths, injuries, bombings and shootings over more than 30 years, the British government has concluded there was never armed conflict in the North.

A senior British diplomat made the astonishing claim after the United Nations included the Northern Ireland in a list of states and regions where children of 17 years and under are being recruited by armed factions.

The British government has asked that no talks on a draft plan aimed at protecting children in war zones take place until “the problem with Northern Ireland is addressed”. Britain also wants the North off the list.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a report to the 15-member security council, said: “In Northern Ireland ... attempts have been made to obtain commitments from the armed groups to refrain from recruiting or using children in the conflict.”

British UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told the Security Council “there is not and has not been a situation of armed conflict” in the North.

Fifteen countries and more than 40 rebel groups from, among others, Afghanistan, Colombia, Liberia, Russia’s Chechnya republic and Myanmar, formerly Burma, are on the list.

British officials denied blocking the talks but said they were working to correct a “misdefinition” of the situation in the North as an “armed conflict”.

Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane, said: “The assertion ... indicates a level of denial that is not only extraordinary but flies in the face of efforts that have been underway since the peace process took hold with the IRA cessation of 1994 and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998”.

The Security Council has been asked to adopt a resolution setting out a plan to address the problem.