Paisley questions lack of evidence

DEMOCRATIC Unionist Party leader, the Reverend Ian Paisley, said there had been no transparent verification of decommissioning in yesterday’s IRA announcement.

He said the announcement showed the "duplicity and dishonesty of the two governments and the IRA." He said there had been a "cunning cover-up" and no announcement of what had been decommissioned, as was required by unionists.

Mr Paisley said the announcement by General de Chastelain did not meet the requirements of proof the unionist people demanded.

The promises of British Prime Minister Tony Blair that decommissioning would be transparent and verifiable had been broken, said the DUP leader.

Mr Paisley and his party are crucial to any progress with the political process, and he made it clear he was unimpressed with the announcement as a means of kick-starting progress.

Speaking at a Belfast news conference, he said: "Instead of openness there was the cunning tactics of a cover up, the complete failure from General John de Chastelain to deal with the vital numbers of decommissioning.

"We do not know how many guns, the amounts of ammunition, explosives nor were we told how the decommissioning was carried out."

And he said there was no evidence that what had been given to verify what the IRA had told the Independent International Commission for Decommissioning (IICD) was accurate.

"The so-called Independent International Commission for Decommissioning could only say to the people of Northern Ireland that the proof that all the guns and material of the IRA were decommissioned was an assurance given to them by the IRA," Mr Paisley said.

"Not one iota was given to verify that assurance. The IICD message was to trust the IRA as the IRA had indicated all weapons had been decommissioned."

Mr Paisley claimed the general had simply taken the word of the IRA, which in turn was accepted by the witnesses. The DUP leader said the witnesses were under the general's control.

"It must be clearly stated that both witnesses were approved by the IRA and therefore were accepted by the IRA and in no way could be independent.

"There were no photographs, no detailed inventory and no detail of the destruction of these arms," he added.

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said what appeared to have been a significant development in terms of decommissioning had failed to maximise public confidence.

"Unionists remain to be convinced of the republican movement's commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means."