Announcement not enough for Paisley

Democratic Unionist Party leader the Reverend Ian Paisley said there had been no transparent verification of IRA decommissioning in today's announcement.

He said today's 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.

He 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 Democratic Unionist Party leader.

Today was to be the day when the gun was finally take out of Irish politics, according to the IRA, he said.

But the people of Northern Ireland watched this afternoon an announcement which “illustrates more than ever the duplicity of the two governments and the IRA," said Mr Paisley.

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.”

He said also that the ‘so called’ independent witnesses were “appointed by the IRA”.

And he said not one iota of evidence had been given to verify that what the IRA had told the IICD was accurate.

Mr Paisley said the Commission had simply taken the IRA's word at face value but he claimed the terror group could not be believed.

The DUP leader said: “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.

“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.

He said: “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.”

Mr Paisley said the unionist community would be unimpressed by today’s developments, which he claimed amounted to a betrayal.

He said: “The fact remains that the promise made by the (British) Prime Minister, that decommissioning must be transparent and verifiable and must satisfy everyone, was broken.

“There were no photographs, no detailed inventory and no detail of the destruction of these arms.

“To describe today’s act as being transparent would be the falsehood of the century.

“The people of Ulster are not going to be forced by IRA/Sinn Féin or by the two governments along the path of deceitfulness and treachery.”