IRA lays down arms
2005-07-28 14:08
Belfast - The Irish Republican Army on Thursday ordered its militants to end the armed campaign in Northern Ireland and become a political movement, the paramilitary group said in a historic statement.
It said IRA militants have been instructed to abandon their weapons, "end the armed campaign" and pursue their aims through the political process, from 16:00 on Thursday.
But the statement said the organisation would not disband as leading Protestants demand.
The announcement is an unprecedented step by the Roman Catholic paramilitary group which has fought for an end to British rule in Northern Ireland for 30 years.
It comes after the movement suffered major blows to its credibility in recent months, over its alleged involvement in a massive bank heist in Belfast and the murder of an Irish Catholic man earlier this year.
The announcement also comes amid worldwide revulsion at the wave of terrorist bombings by Islamic extremists, especially in the United States where the IRA has enjoyed significant support over the years.
In April, Gerry Adams, the leader of the political wing of the IRA, Sinn Fein, made a direct appeal to the Roman Catholic paramilitary group to embrace purely political and democratic activity.
The IRA has held secret consultations with its membership over the future of the movement for many months.
Martin McGuinness, the chief negotiator for Sinn Fein, travelled to Washington on Wednesday to brief "friends of the peace process" in the United States Congress and in New York about recent moves for a lasting settlement.
On Tuesday Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell said Adams, McGuinness and convicted gun runner Martin Ferris - now a legislator in the Irish parliament - had left the ruling "military council" of the IRA.
The Sinn Fein trio have previously denied that they are on the ruling body of the underground military organisation, which is responsible for dozens of bombings around Britain over the decades.
It declared a ceasefire before the 1998 Good Friday peace deal that largely ended the violence and paved the way for a Protestant-Catholic power-sharing assembly in Belfast.
But that deal was suspended more than two years ago amid allegations of IRA espionage, and hopes of a new political settlement were dashed in December when Sinn Fein refused to allow photographic documentation of IRA disarmament.
Even if the IRA lays downs its arms for good, Northern Ireland could still be bogged down by bickering between Catholics and Protestants.
Protestant factions in Northern Ireland, particularly the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by veteran hardliner Ian Paisley, are adamant that there can be no lasting settlement unless the IRA ends all paramilitary and criminal activity.