| |
 |
Minister admits senior IRA role
|
BREAKING a paramilitary code of secrecy, a minister in Northern Ireland's government admitted publicly for the first time on Wednesday that he had been a senior IRA commander.
Martin McGuinness, chief negotiator of the Irish Republican Army's political wing Sinn Fein, said he had been the organisation's second in command in Londonderry at the time of the "Bloody Sunday" shootings 30 years ago.
He confirmed at a news conference that he had given a draft statement to an official inquiry currently being held into the events of Bloody Sunday in which he admitted being the IRA "adjutant" in the city.
Thirteen civilians were killed when British soldiers opened fire on a civil rights rally in Londonderry, in the northwest of the province, on Sunday, January 30, 1972. Another died a few days later.
The incident was a turning point in the early years of the troubles and has remained a festering sore ever since.
McGuinness's unprecedented admission breaks the traditional code of secrecy by the IRA, the biggest Catholic paramilitary group in Northern Ireland.
It is being seen by some as another sign that the group's violence is a thing of the past, but by others as a ploy by Sinn Fein's senior negotiator to boost his credibility amid claims he had fired the first shot that fateful day.
McGuinness told the news conference at Sinn Fein headquarters in west Belfast: "It's very clear in the statement that I am saying that I was second in command of the IRA campaign in Derry on Bloody Sunday and I will be able to definitively say that the IRA did not engage militarily with the British army on that day."
He added: "In fact, I will also tell them (the tribunal) that there were no IRA units ... no IRA weapons in the area, and that no IRA shots were fired at the British army."
An official inquiry in 1972 cleared the army of blame, saying soldiers had been fired upon first. But that conclusion has been widely discredited and the new tribunal began public hearings in March last year.
Earlier this year, it was told that McGuinness fired the shot that prompted the army's retaliation. The claims were based on secret service reports drawn from the accounts of IRA informants.
McGuinness, 50, who is due to testify before the tribunal, is a landmark figure in the republican movement. Working with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, he pushed the IRA to declare two ceasefires, propelling it to the historic April 1998 Good Friday peace accord under which the Northern Ireland executive, in which he has a ministerial post, was created.
The IRA, which opposes British rule and wants Northern Ireland reunified with the Irish Republic, has maintained a ceasefire since 1997.
McGuinness, however, remains a hate figure for hardline Protestants such as Ian Paisley Jnr, justice spokesman for the Democratic Unionist Party, who has called for his arrest for IRA membership.
But Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid has said that like others giving evidence, McGuinness will be a "protected witness."
He said McGuinness's appearance would help establish the truth and signalled "a new openness," part of the transition from "a very dirty war" to power-sharing.
(SD-Agencies)
|
|
|
|
