IRA rejects demands to surrender arms

BELFAST, FEB. 5. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) today said that it would not cave in to the demands of the British Government to surrender its arms.

A statement from the IRA leadership told the Government that the arms issue, which had plunged the peace process into crisis, would not be advanced by ``British legislative threats''. Yesterday, the British Government tabled a bill in Parliament, making it possible to suspend the Government of Northern Ireland and resume direct rule.

The statement came as Mr. David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist leader, and Sinn Fein President, Mr. Gerry Adams, met in Belfast amid frantic efforts to save Northern Ireland's devolved Government from collapsing, over the IRA's refusal to decommission its weapons.

At the outset, the IRA made it clear that there was little or no chance of them acting in time to prevent the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the recently-formed power-sharing executive, by the end of next week. The statement was significant in that the organisation accepted for the first time that the arms issue had to be dealt with ``in an acceptable way'' and it was ``a necessary objective of a genuine peace process.'' The statement reiterated that the IRA was not a threat to the peace process.

- DPA

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Section  : International
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