My war with the British is over, says McGuinness

Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, will publicly declare today that his war with the British is over. He couples his declaration, in a BBC documentary, with an admission that he joined the IRA as a teenager.

His words will be scoured for significance, given that Irish republicans are currently ruminating on Tony Blair's call for the IRA to disband. The Prime Minister's plea has stimulated much debate in republican circles, with the Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, saying it angered many people.

Mr Blair specifically commended the two Sinn Fein leaders in his speech, declaring: "I believe that Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness want the [Good Friday] Agreement to work. I think they have taken huge risks to try to bury the past. But the crunch is the crunch."

The IRA and Sinn Fein have both passed critical comment on the Prime Minister's words, but neither has come up with a definitive reaction. Mr McGuinness's words will therefore attract more than usual attention. He says in the documentary to be screened on BBC Northern Ireland tonight: "My war is over. My job as a political leader is to prevent war.

"My job is to continue to ensure a political set of circumstances which will never again see British soldiers or members of the IRA lose their lives as a result of political conflict. I feel very passionate about that. My political project until the day I retire from politics or die is to build a better future for all of our people ... It is a political project, not a military one."

The documentary includes interviews with republicans and journalists. Mr McGuinness speaks of joining the organisation as a teenager: "Certainly in the minds of those people who were 17, 18, 19, 20 years of age – I was 19 years of age approximately at that time – thoughts do turn to how you can be more effective in terms of confronting the British Army and the RUC ...

"I and many others made a very conscious decision to seek to join the IRA and be more effective in resistance. When you seek to join the IRA, you do not join the IRA to play games. You join the IRA to be part of a military force which is prepared to take on the British Army and the RUC to take them on in battle. That is the reality."