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Open letter to Secretary of State, Peter Mandelson 

on British Army military activities in the North of Ireland

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Sir,

I am increasingly concerned about the British Government’s way of acting in the peace process in the North of Ireland. My last visit to South Armagh a couple of days ago deepened these concerns.

On Tuesday, April 11^th, I visited Crossmaglen for only a couple of hours. I arrived there at 2 pm by bus and left about 5 pm the same day. I’ve heared about the ongoing British Army presence before but I did not expect to be confrontated with it during such a short-time visit.

During the one hour journey from Newry to Crossmaglen I counted about half a dozen helicopters in the air. It’s no fun to arrive in Crossmaglen in front of the huge fortified RUC/British Army barracks and still to see no signs of changes of these monuments of oppression two years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. But completely shocking and outrageous was to watch the British Army’s activities:

q          At 2.30 pm a British Army’s foot patrol consisting of several soldiers were walking the streets of Crossmaglen as if they had been forgotten there during the war some years ago. They were walking in couples of two, each soldier carrying  a machine gun pointing around at some invisible enemy, ready to shoot. The second one watching while the first was moving and so on.

q          At 4.30 pm a helicopter suddenly appeared with loud noise from behind the barracks, flying as low as possible almost touching the rooftops of the houses with high speed. Obviously the reason was no other than showing presence because after one high speed and low height circle the helicopter disappeared as suddenly as it arrived on the scene. To me it looked like a show of triumphalism, given that such helicopter flights had not been possible in Crossmaglen for a long time.

I was told by local people that their experience of the peace process up to now is an increasing British Army military presence: expansion of spy towers, increase of patrols and of harassment against people. I fully understand their anger and frustration.

The actions of the British Army which I watched with my own eyes during Tuesday afternoon gave me the impression that the British Army in this area is acting fiercely against the spirit and its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement. It’s a shame that the British Government who promised by signing the Agreement to provide a detailed demilitarization program is acting contrary to its obligations.

What is your policy in these areas? Showing supremacy and intimidating people as a sort of revenge against these mainly republican areas? Or using the area as a training ground for the British Army and thus keeping a whole region hostage to war games? Or is the British Army out of control? Running amuck in such critical times? Is the intension to provoke an incident?

For the last couple of weeks you urged the IRA to declare that the war is over.

When will you show the people of Crossmaglen and elsewhere that your war is over for good? 

Blocking political progress as you did by suspending the political institutions and additionally increasing military activity will comfort the hardliners in the British Army. But it is not the way towards peace and conflict resolution.

I urge you to return onto the path to peace, to reinstate the political institutions and as a first step in fulfilling your obligation for demilitarization: take your soldiers away from the streets, in Crossmaglen and elsewhere.

I would appreciate an answer.

Yours,

Uschi Grandel

Save the Good Friday Agreement Coalition