The British Government is set to introduce the necessary legislation for the decommissioning of illegally held weapons, in line with that of the Irish government, it announced this week.
Patrick Kelly, the Republican Prisoner, who after a long battle won his transfer to Portlaoise Jail in the Irish Republic, has been released because he is beleived to be in the terminal phase of skin cancer. Mr Kelly, despite the advanced stage of his cancer was held in solitary confinement in a British jail in between visits to hospital.
The chairman of the house of commons Conservative backbench Northern Ireland committee, Andrew Hunter, suggested on Thursday that Loyalist paramilitary prisoners should be released early after a meeting with leaders of the Loyalist fringe parties the UDP and PUP. Mr Hunter urged that UVF and UDA prisoners should be released as a reward for holding their ceasefire. The Conservative backbench Committee on Northern Ireland is seen to be a vehicle for testing public opinion for perspective government policy. Mr Hunters suggestions were seen as one sided by nationalists and republicans because no early release was given to Republican prisoners during the IRA's two year ceasefire.
The imminent release of UVF mass murderer Bobby 'Basher' Bates by prison authorities after he has become a born again christian has brought condemnation from the families of the victims of the Shankill Butchers. Mr Bates, who was serving 14 life sentences for 10 murders, was a member of a Loyalist death squad in the 70's who became known as the Shankill Butchers. The Shankill Butchers killed at least 19 random Catholic civilians between 1975 and 1977 stabbing and hacking them to death using butchers implements.
Five Derry men are to appear in a special criminal court today in Dublin after raids in Donegal yesterday and today led to the seizure of a number of weapons. Since the breakdown of the ceasefire there has been a number of arrests of republicans in the Irish Republic.
Two Irish people are being held under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act, in London's Paddington Green Police Station. The arrests came after dawn raids yesterday, it is unclear whether any weapons or other evidence were found. Under the PTA a suspects normal rights are suspended, and they can be held without charge for a week or longer with a judges permission.
In a move seen by Nationalists as vindictive and one-sided, the RUC this week arrested a number of nationalists from the Lr Ormeau and Garvaghy roads. Those arrested are alleged by the police to have been involved in clashes with the RUC during the counter demonstration opposing the two controversial loyalist marches through their (mainly Nationalist) areas this summer. No loyalist has been arrested relating to the much more widespread and intense violence surrounding those marches.
In a move beleived to be part of the British States response to the IRA's bombing of British Army HQ in Lisburn this month, the British Army last Thursday erected a new observation post over the Nationalist Bogside. The new tower is alleged by an NIO spokesperson to be a replacement for one of the two existing ones on that site. The towers are equiped with high tech listening and observation devices, and can see into virually all of the houses in the Bogside. In a move thought to be symptomatic of the thaw thanks to the IRA ceasefire, the authorities responded to community pressure last November and removed a manned observation tower from the Rosemount area of the city. The latest development is seen as a clear signal to the nationalist Community that they will be punished for the breaking of the IRA's ceasefire.
Dublin and London Governments seem to differ on the timetable for admitting Sinn Fein to "all party" talks on the future of Northern Ireland. The Irish Foreign minister Dick Spring says that SF will be at the table within weeks of an IRA ceasefire, whereas the British Government sat it will not be that staright forward, without specifying what conditions they do want.
In a document released today the Belfast based human rights group the Committee for the Administration of Justice, condemned police handling of the crisis which swept Northern Ireland on the aftermath of Drumcree. The report entitled "The Misrule of Law" condemns what it calls a total breakdown in law and order, specifically naming the killing of Dermott McShane baton charges of injured people at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry. The report calls for the total withdrawal of plastic bullets from use. The CAJ is affiliated to Liberty, the British Human Rights Organisation. In a statement today, DUP councillor Ian Paisley JR, condemned the Report as "anti RUC propagada", saying the CAJ would do better to spend their money on other things...
See In the Line of Fire, By PFC