Armed and
dangerous
By Jarlath Kearney j.kearney@dailyireland.com
Official
statistics obtained by Daily Ireland have thrown a new spotlight onto the
failure of unionist paramilitary organisations to decommission.
It can be
revealed that in the six years after the Good Friday Agreement, approximately
529 illegal firearms were discovered in mainly unionist parliamentary
constituencies across the North.
Human
rights organisations estimate that more than 700 grenade and pipe bomb attacks
were launched against Catholic and nationalist homes during the same period,
from 1998 to 2004.
In the
context of the role played by British intelligence and RUC/PSNI Special Branch
in managing key loyalist agents, the new statistics demonstrate the frightening
extent of illegal weaponry in the hands of the unionist community.
Today’s
news emerged as speculation mounted that the IRA is considering an
unprecedented fourth act of putting weapons beyond use in the near future.
Under the
terms of the 1998 Agreement, acts of decommissioning should comply with
arrangements agreed between the relevant paramilitary organisation and General
John de Chastelain’s Independent International Commission on Decommissioning
(IOCD).
Only one minor
act of decommissioning by loyalist paramilitaries has ever been carried out. In
what was widely regarded as a publicity stunt, the Loyalist Volunteer Force
(LVF) publicly destroyed a number of old guns in the presence of General de
Chastelain on December 18, 1998.
In recent
weeks, loyalist paramilitaries have murdered two Protestant men, exploded blast
bombs in unionist areas and attacks on nationalist homes and issued death
threats against prominent republicans.
Automatic
weapons were also fired publicly at July 12 bonfires in unionist areas,
accompanied by statements of intent to commit further violence.
Earlier
this week, the PSNI and British army caused outrage by passively observing as
scores of hooded UVF members gathered at Garnerville in east Belfast. The UVF
had earlier escalated its feud with the rival LVF by intimidating a number of
families from their homes on Sunday night.
In the late
1980s, a massive haul of South African weapons was brought into the North under
the direction of British agent Brian Nelson. The haul was divided into three
sections, for the Ulster Volunteer Force, the Ulster Defence Association and
Ulster Resistance respectively.
Ulster
Resistance was formed with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
in November 1986, but none of the organisation’s illegal South African weapons
has ever been recovered.
According
to the latest official statistics, Belfast North, East Antrim and Lagan Valley
were the constituencies where the highest proportion of illegal firearms was
found. The firearms found in the these areas account for approximately 32 per
cent of all illegal weapons recovered – approximately 230 out of 711.
In total,
approximately 124 illegal firearms were recovered in the Border nationalist
constituencies of Foyle, West Tyrone, Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Newry and
Armagh, and South Down. Approximately 13 illegal firearms were found in
Mid-Ulster between 1998 and 2004.
Daily
Ireland’s figures are based on official PSNI statistics which indicate that 711
illegal firearms were recovered across the North between 1998 and 2004. Local
district-level information has been surveyed by reference to parliamentary
constituencies. This analysis concluded that approximately 74 per cent of all
illegal firearms recovered between 1998 and 2004 was found in unionist
parliamentary constituencies.