Northern Ireland : Reversal? Seems a role reversal is underway in Northern Ireland - IRA closing down violence, Loyalists not

I couldn't help but notice in recent days that sad news comes again from Northern Ireland - Belfast in particular - regarding the Loyalist Protestant armed factions, once called "counter-terrorist," which I had thawt with gratitude had tapered off the ultra-violence gig. refWrite carried info earlier regarding the opening of the season of marches by the Protestants and the bonfires on the eve before. But the imagery was coupled with little or no mass horrors, if memory serves. David McKettrick, however, reported yesterday in London UK's The Independent, "Feuding loyalists bring the fear back to Belfast," July 26, 2005.

Belfast's Protestant para-military strongholds are again gripped in one of the bouts of sporadic feuding which erupt in the loyalist underworld, claiming lives and causing much social disruption. Such violence is a familiar part of the Belfast landscape: each year of the past decade has seen killings resulting from them, usually of active loyalists.

Two feuds are boiling, one of them centring on disputes within the Ulster Defence Association, the largest grouping. But the one causing most worry involves the Ulster Volunteer Force, another large grouping apparently intent on wiping out the smaller Loyalist Volunteer Force.

It doubly saddens to read the details in McKettrick's piece, because I had heard that in the recent elections the victory within the Protestant vote had placed Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists in first place, retired the previous Protestant leadership probably permanently, and placed 7 or so "born-again Christians" in the NI parliament. Apparently, the legally-elected office-holders have no influence whatsoever on the paramilitaries on the Protestant side.

The same tragedy had been obvious on the Catholic side, as regards Sinn Fein party which is connected to the military apparatus of the Irish Republic Army (IRA). But today, a new report by Jim Dwyer and Brian Lavery, "I.R.A. to Give Up Violence in Favor of Political Struggle, July 27, 2005.

The Irish Republican Army has given up its armed struggle for a united Ireland, agreeing to turn solely to political methods, an American businessman said yesterday after being briefed on a statement expected from the guerrilla group later this week.

The agreement, if borne out, would be a historic turning point in the violent history of Ireland and Northern Ireland. But there is still widespread official skepticism about I.R.A. promises, particularly when it comes to the issue of disarmament.

Indeed, it was not immediately clear whether the I.R.A. would address how several tons of arms, hidden in bunkers across Ireland, would be disposed of, according to the businessman, Niall O'Dowd, who brokered talks between the I.R.A. and American officials that helped lead to a cease-fire in 1994. The continued existence of those weapons, which were to have been destroyed under an agreement reached after the cease-fire, contributed to the collapse of the Northern Ireland government in 2003.

Yes, by all means, what about those tons of arms? Also, what about the armed gang mega-robberies of banks, offings of critical non-belligerents in the Catholic community, and similar recent events that indicate that there had been a shift in the sociological profile of the IRA from revolutionary activism to criminal ring, and that already in a period when Gerry Adams was directly involved in the IRA. It was only yesterday that "Ireland's justice minister, Michael McDowell, said the top leaders of Sinn Fein, including Gerry Adams and Mr. McGuinness, had stepped down from positions on the I.R.A.'s secretive governing council."

So the skepticism will not be limited to officials.

The fact that the Democratic Unionists displaced the Ulster Unionist Party as Northern Ireland's largest political party in the 2005 election, while Sinn Fein came in second, did indeed create a new poiitical constellation. The new order and number of seats is: DUP 9; SF 5; Social Democratic Labour Party (leftwing Catholics); and now in last place the Ulster Unionists with only 1 seat. While that's significant, and while Gerry Adams' desire to dissociate Sinn Fein entirely from the criminal activities of uncontrollable IRA elements now that the strictly revolutionary élan is gone, I can't help but feel that the IRA is also reading the world news and is very aware that it's former bombings in London UK have been rendered less significant than what the new terrorist forces there have "accomplished." It now would be ni impossible to gain mass sympathy in London for an IRA bombing operation there. Let's hope all that is past.

Yet, in either case, it's difficult to be other than skeptical about the Loyalist Prods, as they call themselves, or the IRA. - Politicarp