IRA decommissioning - Loyalist groups must follow suit

It would appear that Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness may not have done the IRA’s final act of decommissioning justice in heralding it as merely “historic”.

In the end, the two clergymen who witnessed it described it as a development which would become “a benchmark for the resolution for political conflicts everywhere”.

Unfortunately, another clergyman, DUP leader Ian Paisley, is unlikely to consider in that light the declaration from General John de Chastelain, chairman of the International Commission on Decommissioning, that the IRA had abandoned arms.

He has reported to the Irish and British Governments that the stockpile of Kalashnikovs, Semtex explosives, mortars, machine guns and other weaponry, including missiles, has been destroyed.

Crucially, it was confirmed by two clergymen, Redemptorist Fr Alex Reid and former president of the Methodist Church, Harold Good, two men whose reputations must command the highest respect.

Mr de Chastelain and the two other commissioners, America’s Andrew Sens and Finland’s Tauno Nieminen, said that the arms included all the categories in estimates provided by both governments.

This independent commission was satisfied the arms decommissioning represented the “totality” of the IRA’s arsenal. The act was the culmination of the promise of July 28 when the IRA announced its armed campaign was over in response to a plea by Mr Adams that they accept a democratic alternative to violence.

In October two years ago talks collapsed because unionists were angry at the IRA’s refusal to sanction an inventory of the decommissioned arms.

This is not within the remit of the commission until, and when, the weapons of all paramilitary groups, not just the IRA, have been decommissioned.

Even though this latest development was observed by two independent witnesses, unionist reaction was sceptical and that of loyalists was sneering.

Both governments had indicated the details must be sufficient to reassure unionists that the IRA had, indeed, got rid of its weapons and explosives, and that evidence was “incontrovertible”, according to the clergymen.

The DUP’s demand that the destruction be videotaped was expected, and recognised merely as a ploy on which they rejected the occurrence, even before it was announced by Mr de Chastelain.

The party continues to lay out conditions and a time frame for when they might grace the negotiating table with their presence.

From a practical point of view, the Assembly will not be resurrected until sometime next year at the earliest, and probably into 2007.

In the intervening period, loyalist and unionist leaders should use their influence to entice their supporters from the path of violence, which has been tragically evident on the streets of Belfast in recent weeks.

Today, Sinn Féin’s chief negotiator, Mr McGuinness, embarked on a tour of the US where he will brief politicians on the development, which will be welcomed in Washington, as it was in Dublin and London.

Last Saturday, Mr Adams said at a rally in Dublin that it was time for republicans and unionists to work together to overcome their differences. He was correct in saying that the decommissioning announcement would have a huge impact on the political process, but it is essential this act of faith be reciprocated.