IRA arms offer may put peace on track

Government welcomes decommissioning idea

DAVID McKITTRICK

Ireland Correspondent

Sinn Fein yesterday suggested that the IRA might dispose of its weapons, raising hopes of breaking the months-long logjam on decommissioning Ulster paramilitaries' arms.

While the republicans ruled out the idea of guns being handed over to the British or Irish governments, they held out the prospect of an independent third party verifying the disposal of weapons as part of a peace settlement.

The suggestion, contained in a lengthy Sinn Fein document, was given a guarded welcome in official circles, where it was privately described as a hopeful and encouraging development. It forms part of a 29-page republican submission to the international body on de-commissioning, headed by the former US Senator George Mitchell, which was established by the British and Irish governments in early December.

Senator Mitchell and his two colleagues are to meet John Major in London tonight to hear the British government's position. Later they are to travel to Dublin where they will meet the Irish Prime Minister, John Bruton, and the Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams. Talks are also scheduled with Ulster Unionist MPs and loyalist representatives in Belfast on Saturday. The final report on decommissioning is due next week.

The key parts of the Sinn Fein submission state: "We believe that as part of a peace settlement the disposal of arms by those in possession of them is a method which may find acceptance. This is a decision for those who have the arms." It added, in dealing with the question of verification, that the concept of an independent third party may also find acceptance.

The document does not appear to represent any republican weakening on what has become known as "Washington 3" - the British government's insistence that some weapons must be decommissioned before Sinn Fein can be admitted to all-party talks.

None the less, many observers saw it as an advance in that the republicans addressed the decommissioning issue with some seriousness, formally accepting that verification was essential in any decommissioning process. As such, it will certainly attract the attention of Senator Mitchell and his colleagues, giving them something to work on in the daunting task of trying to find common ground between the Government's "guns before talks" and Sinn Fein's "talks before guns".

Mr Major will now be considering whether to respond to the Sinn Fein move, and whether pressure on the republicans should be maintained, or eased. Recent months have seen an unmistakable build-up in republican disillusionment with the peace process.

The key republican demand is for the convening of all-party talks. A target date for these has been set at the beginning of February, but they are not likely to proceed unless and until the arms issue has been resolved.

Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein claimed yesterday that decommissioning was "a stalling device and a bogus argument" created by London to postpone talks. He said that while no one seriously expected the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary to surrender their weapons there should be a general demilitarisation, together with a review of the more than 100,000 licensed weapons which, he said, were mainly in the hands of Unionists.

Insisting that Sinn Fein was committed to peace, he said there was "not a scrap of evidence" to link the IRA with the recent killings of five alleged drug dealers since the beginning of December. Government ministers and the RUC have said the IRA was responsible for the shootings.

The Sinn Fein document, arguing that even a symbolic handover of weapons would amount to a surrender, declared: "The 'pike in the thatch' tradition persists and has in more modern times been translated into rusting guns in forgotten caches, decommissioning through disuse and falling into disrepair."