'Undercover armies' threaten peace process in Ulster, warns Ahern
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Your support makes all the difference.The Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, said yesterday that "undercover armies" of paramilitaries were trying to sabotage the Northern Ireland peace process and that demilitarisation was essential for building confidence between the two communities.
Speaking at a rally to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, Mr Ahern said: "The very small minority of republicans who oppose the [Good Friday] Agreement of course have the right to do so politically. What is not acceptable is to try to set aside by force the will of the people.
"The openness, transparency and accountability required by citizens in any modern society is not compatible with undercover armies not properly amenable to democratic control, who retain the power to hold up or frustrate political progress. Demilitarisation... is indispensable to confidence-building."
His comments came after dissident republicans bombed a military base in Londonderry earlier this month. No one was hurt in the blast, which was the second attack on a security installation in Northern Ireland in less than two months, and which heightened fears of a developing campaign by former IRA members opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Ahern said he was determined that the Agreement should become fully operational again as soon as possible. He said direct rule on a long-term basis was not an acceptable substitute for the Good Friday Agreement and the will of the people.
Yesterday the Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams, said it was up to Tony Blair, and not the IRA, to save the peace process by reinstating the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly. He questioned whether the Government had the "courage and capacity" to do so.
In Belfast yesterday, the Loyalist Apprentice Boys criticised what they said were attempts to negotiate "apartheid" as their parade was prevented from entering a predominantly Catholic area.
A letter of protest was handed over to police as members of the order arrived at the Ormeau Bridge, leading to the nationalist Lower Ormeau Road. Police placed crowd barriers across the road to enforce a ban imposed by the Parades Commission.
The Lower Ormeau Concerned Community organisation, which opposes loyalist parades, welcomed the peaceful outcome, but accused the Apprentice Boys of refusing to compromise.
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