crisis

On Friday, 11th February 2000, as we watched the reports on TV about ex-Northern Ireland "Direct-Ruler" Peter Mandelson suspending the Assembly and the other institutions set up by the Good Friday Agreement and giving himself a job again, we felt ashamed that a breach of an International Agreement by the British Government was possible without the much needed International outcry of protest. We are aware of the fact that this would not have been possible if more European countries had been actively supportive of the Irish Peace Process, demanding loud and clearly that human rights, equality and justice, all often cited goals on the European agenda, should apply to every part of Europe.

We share the feeling of deep anger and frustration of Irish nationalists and republicans having to watch the British Parliament pass another special law this time to abandon a democratically elected government in the North of Ireland. This is a government which was running successfully for the first time in Northern Ireland's very undemocratic history as an all party government and which, in spite of its short existence, seemed to be successful in building trust and confidence between the pro-British unionists and Irish nationalists and republicans.

The Ulster Unionist Party started this present crisis by imposing a non agreed deadline on the decommissioning of IRA weapons. "Direct-Ruler" Peter Mandelson and the British Government extended the crisis by collapsing the institutions on Unionist Party demands. The loss of confidence in Democratic Institutions is immense when the basis of conflict resolution, which underpins the agreement, is not upheld by governments at the behest of a political party which itself carries a major responsibility for thirty years of conflict. Trimble's UUP governed Northern Ireland alone for 50 years up until Bloody Sunday!! Peter Mandelson's breach of the GFA-Agreement is even more outrageous as Unionists, as well as the British Government, tend to forget their own commitments within the Good Friday Agreement.

One of the major problems of the Irish Peace Process is the question of future policing. Many people outside Ireland are shocked when they hear about the Royal Ulster Constabulary's (RUC) collusion with loyalist terror groups. They have been able to witness on TV the RUC's violent attacks on peaceful residents protesting against sectarian parades marching through Catholic ghettos. In general, people in European countries are not aware of the long history of the RUC being the "armed wing of Unionism" together with loyalist death-squads and the anti-Catholic Orange Order. Otherwise they would better understand the hypocrisy of a man like David Trimble (a one time leading member of the fascist paramilitary UDA), who is very dogmatic in his demands that the IRA should disarm on a Unionist timetable but who, on the other hand, offers heavy resistance to proposals put forward in the official Patten Report calling for reforms in the internationally discredited RUC.

To date, the British Government has not fulfilled its own demilitarisation obligations which are integral to the Good Friday Agreement. Still missing is a detailed demilitarisation plan which had been agreed upon and promised on a number of occasions. This includes not only the withdrawal of troops from the streets, but also the abolition of all the high-tech spyposts-fortresses, and the never-ending low-level helicopter flights. The extensive building activity in various army forts which has been witnessed for many months now is in clear breach of the GFA. Some areas, like South Armagh, are so heavily saturated with British military that one could gain the impression that the war was still going on.

The continuing lack of human rights and equality is still a question of highest priority. State violence against Irish nationalists and republicans is seldom brought before the courts. If it is investigated at all, only after time consuming human-rights campaigns have taken place are "wrong-doings" admitted, if reluctantly. To date there has been no complete commitment by the British Government to discover the truth about what really happened on Bloody Sunday 1972, when the British Army shot 14 unarmed participants of a civil rights march. Recently the Ministry of Defence sanctioned the destruction of dozens of the weapons used by the British Military on Bloody Sunday despite an impending investigation which is due to start in March, 2000, after 28 years of campaigning for a repeal of the original official report which stated that many of of the dead and wounded were armed and the rest of the victims were guilty because they had taken part in an illegal demonstration. The families of the victims are still waiting for their civil-rights!

In the Irish News, on Saturday the 12th of February, Peter Mandelson said that this is no time for blame. Of course he is referring to himself. His total inability to understand the historic dimension of the GFA and the premeditated manner in which he suspended the democratic institutions, despite information from the IICD (Independant International Commission on Decommissioning), that major progress had been made, indicates a chilling preparedness to fall back on a Unionist veto based on the 300 year old Colonial ethos "Ulster says No"; this time we can include a "NO" to Human-Rights and Democracy !!

The reinstallation of the Stormont (2) Institutions.

The Full Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

Demilitarisation and Decommissioning.

Peter Mandelson should resign or be sacked for the breaking of International Agreements and for the damage he has done to the Irish Peace Process.