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IRA weighs call to give up violence
 The Irish Republican Army has said it will consider an appeal by Sinn Fein party chief Gerry Adams to renounce violence, a long-elusive goal in Northern Ireland peacemaking.
"Faith! Renounce violence? I dunno. Pat, what do you think?"
"I think we should kneecap somebody, Mike!" |
In a brief statement, the outlawed IRA said it received advance notice of Wednesday's call from Adams, an alleged IRA commander, and "will give his appeal due consideration and will respond in due course". The IRA, which killed about 1800 people as part of a failed campaign to abolish Northern Ireland as a British territory, has been observing a ceasefire since 1997. But the underground organisation remains active on several fronts, particularly in running illegal rackets and promoting Catholic opposition to the province's police. The IRA's activities and refusal to disarm repeatedly undermined the central objective of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord: a joint Catholic-Protestant administration that included Sinn Fein. A four-party coalition collapsed in 2002, and efforts to revive the arrangement failed in December when the IRA refused to permit photos of its disarmament or to renounce crime.
Posted by: Fred 2005-04-08 |
