Contents

Pinochet Decision

The decision by the British House of Lords to overturn the immunity granted to the Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, has been welcomed by exiles and human rights activists worldwide. It now remains to be seen whether the British Home Secretary Jack Straw will withstand pressure from the Chilean Government and the business community and agree to the extradition of the dictator to Spain. A decision must be made by December 2. We thought it appropriate to post an article from the PFC on Pinochet and the ghosts of the past in this week's update. The opinion piece, which was published in the Irish News on October 22 is available in our New Items section.

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Bloody Sunday Tribunal Delay

As expected the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday has announced that open hearings will not now commence until September 1999 due to the amount of witness statements that have to be taken. In a controversial move the chair of the inquiry has asked the Attorney General to accept that statements made before or during the hearings could not be used against that person in criminal proceedings. This has been interpreted as giving de facto immunity from prosecution to members of the Parachute Regiment. This may not in fact be the case. The Tribunal has argued that such an undertaking would mean that no witness could refuse to answer questions on the grounds of self incrimination. "Without such an undertaking any witness would be able to exercise a privilege against self incrimination." In a statement published on the official Tribunal web site it is also claimed that the Tribunal do not propose immunity from prosecution for anyone. While there are understandable fears regarding the ruling it must be said that without such an undertaking soldiers are highly unlikely to give evidence if they have the right not to self incriminate. Further rulings are expected this week on issues including requests from soldiers for anonymity while giving evidence and disclosure of documents. See the Bloody Sunday Tribunal web site for details.

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Loyalist Paramilitaries Active

While the entire peace process would appear to be blocked and focused on the unionist demand for IRA decommissioning loyalist paramilitaries continue to issue dire warnings. At the end of last week the Orange Volunteers, a paramilitary group linked to the Orange Order, held a press conference with armed and masked men at a secret location. Weapons and hand grenades were put on show. The group threatened to kill former republican prisoners and "true enemies" who, according to the group, are "a lot wider than just Sinn Fein and the IRA." The Observer, a Sunday newspaper, has claimed that the weapons on show come from the same arsenal as those discovered twenty four hours later in premises belonging to a fundamentalist Protestant pastor active in supporting the Drumcree orangemen. Grenades and detonators were found during the search. According to the newspaper report the weapons stem from a large shipment of arms smuggled from the Middle East in 1987. At the time Ulster Resistance joined forces with the UDA and the UVF to finance and co ordinate the operation. Ian Paisley and the DUP leadership were actively involved in setting up Ulster Resistance a year before the arms shipment. Though the arms, as stated in the Observer, are thought to have originated in the Middle East, the shipment itself came from South Africa, aided and abetted by the security services of both the South African and British governments. A Lebanese intermediary working for the South Africans, Joseph Fawzi, arranged for the shipment. British security services allowed for some of the arms to get through while intercepting part of the cache. Brian Nelson, the double agent involved in Pat Finucane's murder, was aware of the entire operation as were his handlers.

At least two loyalist groups are now active, the Orange Volunteers and the Red Hand Defenders. Both would appear to have access to weapons smuggled into this country with the support of the British security services. Ulster Resistance, one of the key players, was largely set up by the Democratic Unionist Party. Questions in parliament? Demands for decommissioning? No such luck. .

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Drumcree Protests Continue

Some 500 supporters of the Orange Order marched through Portadown at the weekend in support of the demand by orangemen that they be allowed to parade down the Garvaghy Road. The situation for Catholics in the Armagh town has remained unchanged. Any journey to the town centre is potentially life threatening. Meanwhile loyalists have been granted permission by the Parades Commission to march close to the Garvaghy Road in December. The march and rally, planned for December 19, has been condemned by spokespersons for the Garvaghy residents as yet another attempt to intimidate local people.

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Policing Commission

The Independent Commission into Policing, chaired by the former Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patton, is due to visit the Pat Finucane Centre on Tuesday December 2. It is expected that the commission will spend one and a half hours in the centre discussing our submission which is available on the web site. We intend inviting a number of families who have lost relatives to the private meeting in the centre. Public meetings of the commission will be held on the same day in venues in the Waterside and on the cityside..

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