Profoundly important apology paves way for new phase in peace process

The nature of the apology, argues Fergus Finlay, signals that the IRA is preparing to take the next step.

NEARLY eight years ago, the Combined Loyalist Military Command issued its now famous ceasefire statement. It was read to a packed press conference by Gusty Spence, the first loyalist imprisoned for a crime during the Northern conflict, and by then the father of the peace process on the loyalist side.

His voice broke as he read these words: "In all sincerity, we offer to the loved ones of all innocent victims over the past 25 years abject and true remorse. No words of ours will compensate for the intolerable suffering they have undergone during the conflict."

I knew then, because I had been involved in a small way with their decision-making, that those words of apology had been hard won by Spence, David Ervine and Billy Hutchinson. I also knew that the Irish Government of that time had hoped for an apology from the IRA in the course of its ceasefire negotiations, but it was made very clear at the time that none would be forthcoming.

And now, a hundred months or so later, an IRA apology has been made. It is profoundly important, and I believe a precursor to further developments.

It will be said, of course, that the IRA in its apology has been careful to make a distinction between what they call combatants and non-combatants offering "sincere apologies and condolences" to the families of non-combatants, and acknowledging "the grief and pain" of the relatives of combatants. That is inevitable, in their terms.

As you can see from the couple of sentences I quoted above, the CLMC also referred to "the loved ones of all innocent victims" in their statement in October 1994. You might think that all loved ones are innocent, but there was no apology for the suffering of anyone associated with a victim whom they regarded as a legitimate target.

This is a war that is ending slowly, where the IRA is concerned. The formal violence stopped a long time ago, but informal violence has continued. Control of neighbourhoods has never been relinquished, and they have reserved unto themselves the right to recruit, train and manage their own people.

But all of that is part of the transition, just as peace is. The apology they issued yesterday was issued in their own time and in their own terms. Just look at the circumstances. Imagine the sort of effect a statement along these lines could have had on Sinn Féin's campaign in our recent general election. But instead of issuing it then, the IRA have put it out in the middle of the marching season. As usual, they are sending us the message that they do their thing their way.

I don't know, frankly, if the IRA has ever issued such an apology before at the end of any of their campaigns (I think they have expressed regret in respect of specific incidents). They have certainly never added an apology, as they did yesterday, to the assertion that "we remain totally committed to the peace process and to dealing with the challenges and difficulties which this presents". The coupling of these two sentiments means, I believe, that the IRA is already beginning to prepare for the next step. What is that? I think we can now look beyond decommissioning. I don't mean to say that decommissioning is finished, it isn't, but it is no longer the real issue in the IRA's outlook. Undefeated armies don't apologise any more than they hand over their weapons. Armies that lay down arms and apologise to their victims, and who do it on a voluntary basis as opposed to a defeated basis, are signalling the end. We don't need the weapons, we don't need the warlike posture. Not only do we accept that the war is over, we are ready to accept that we are not needed any more.

That's the real message in this apology. We will, I believe, begin to see a lessening of the informal violence used to hold sway in neighbourhoods, the delivery of rough and often misplaced justice. We will see a fall and then a stop in recruitment. There will be more decommissioning, and more steps towards a fuller integration into the political process.

And of course, the political process is now aimed at positioning Sinn Féin ultimately as a party of power in both parts of Ireland the only political party that will be able to stake that claim.

In this, as in everything else, they take a longer view than most of us as one might expect from an organisation able to wait more than eight years to add a few sentences of apology to a ceasefire announcement.

Therefore, in political terms it's true to say 'they haven't gone away, you know'. But in military terms, what we witnessed yesterday was both historic and welcome. It was nothing less than the beginning of the process of standing down an army.