>From: "james-tait" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>SINN FEIN NEWS
>
>
>> IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
>> http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
>>
>> Friday/Saturday, 19/20 May, 2000
>>
>>
>> 1. UNIONISTS STRUGGLE FOR AN ANSWER
>> * Trimble says he could walk out again
>> 2. Policing proposals undermined by implementation plan
>> 3. UN supports ex-prisoners' freedom of expression
>> 4. Ardoyne loyalist threat
>> 5. RUC 'lose' gun, ammo
>> 6. Bloody Sunday soldiers prevented wounded receiving aid
>> 7. Loyalists threaten Connolly marchers
>> 8. Book Review: A Pocket History of Gaelic Culture
>> 9. Analysis: Warning -- slippery when wet
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> >>>>>> UNIONISTS STRUGGLE FOR AN ANSWER
>>
>>
>> A grim sense of deja vu hangs over the political process this
>> weekend as the Ulster Unionist Party prepares for a crucial
>> meeting of the party's ruling Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) next
>> Saturday.
>>
>> As in December, a deal to finally secure the implementation of
>> the 1998 Good Friday Agreement is to be considered by the
>> 860-strong body at a meeting in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
>> Once again, a dramatic Republican initiative on arms is on offer
>> to unionists in return for them keeping their side of the Good
>> Friday Agreement.
>>
>> The different groups within Ulster Unionism are again engaged in
>> a public and flamboyant dance routine. When the music stops, the
>> hope is that there will be a clear majority for the deal
>> negotiated in Hillsborough two weeks ago, and the North's
>> power-sharing institutions can be restored.
>>
>> Within the UUC, on the evidence of recent divisions, neither the
>> supporters of the Good Friday Agreement nor its outright
>> opponents can claim a majority. The balance of power appears to
>> be held by a less definable group, led by the party's deputy
>> leader John Taylor, which pursues the emasculation of the Good
>> Friday Agreement through continuous renegotiation.
>>
>> At the last moment of the December vote, Taylor -- brandishing a
>> two-page "letter of comfort" from the British government and with
>> a promise by Trimble to walk out of the institutions if the IRA
>> did not begin a weapons handover -- finally urged the council
>> delegates to support the new administration. But the added
>> conditions were well outside the terms of the deal negotiated
>> with Sinn Fein, and led to the wrenching collapse of the
>> institutions in February, after just eight weeks of successful
>> operation.
>>
>> Today, following the negotiatation of a new deal two weeks ago in
>> Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast, new unionist conditions and
>> demands threaten to poison peace hopes.
>>
>> To facilitate this month's breakthrough, the IRA made an
>> unprecedented offer to allow its arms dumps be examined by
>> independent monitors to verify that the weapons are beyond use.
>> The historic IRA statement stunned observers and stretched the
>> Republican constituency beyond breaking point. But this week the
>> unionist renegotiators are out to stretch the situation further,
>> sensing a new opportunity ahead for gains ahead of next
>> Saturday's vote.
>>
>> TRIMBLE COULD WALK AGAIN
>>
>> For over two years, nationalists have failed to secure a yes or
>> no answer from unionists on the Good Friday Agreement. Now they
>> are demanding the governments hold the line on the Hillsborough
>> deal to end the boom-and-bust cycle of collapse and renegotiations.
>>
>> They are saying, enough is enough.
>>
>> But the past week saw a series of concessions to unionists on the
>> issue of policing, adding to fears that the two governments have
>> learned nothing from their past disasters.
>>
>> And David Trimble is once again suggesting he will walk out of
>> the power-sharing executive if he does not get satisfaction on
>> the issue of IRA arms.
>>
>> The Ulster Unionist leader said in a radio interview that he was
>> considering putting to the Ulster Unionist Council next week a
>> proposal to go back into government with Sinn Fein while
>> reserving the right to review its participation in an Executive
>> on the basis of what progress had been achieved on the IRA's arms
>> dumps.
>>
>> Mr Trimble said there was concern within his party that it would
>> be "locked into a situation" if it voted for the return of the
>> new institutions.
>>
>> He went on: "Now that is simply not the case. We retain
>> completely freedom of action ourselves.
>>
>> "From our point of view if there is any delay, if there is any
>> foot-dragging, if there is any repeat of the behaviour in
>> January, then that is going to have serious political
>> consequences and I think that should clearly be understood," he
>> told BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics programme.
>>
>> Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said today the next seven days
>> would determine whether the Good Friday Agreement would "live or
>> die".
>>
>> The West Belfast MP ridiculed claims from anti-Agreement
>> unionists that there was still not enough clarity and certainty
>> about the IRA's decommissioning plans.
>>
>> "If it were possible for me to get the IRA to surrender, to march
>> heads bowed without clothing to Glengall Street (UUP
>> headquarters), putting behind them containers of IRA weapons,
>> which we then get these naked IRA volunteers to break with their
>> own heads, having shot each other and then disband, Mr Donaldson
>> would perhaps be looking for something else," he said.
>>
>> "So let's get real here. This is about those people who want the
>> future which can be shared.
>>
>> "It's about compromise. It's about moving together in a way which
>> guarantees, in the best way we can, that young people coming up
>> will not have to live, or die, through what the rest of us have
>> survived."
>>
>> Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin warned there was a
>> "sizeable constituency" within unionism who did not want the Good
>> Friday Agreement to work. He said if the latest deal was
>> rejected, Sinn Fein would look to the British government to take
>> action.
>>
>> He said: "It is my view that there is a bona fide offer on the
>> table. It requires there be an honourable response, particularly
>> from the British government.
>>
>> "Given the divisions within unionism we can have a certain
>> understanding of how David Trimble has to approach his management
>> problem.
>>
>> "But we expect this British government, with its overwhelming
>> majority, to make a bargain and stick by a bargain."
>>
>> 'TREACHERY'
>>
>> Meanwhile, loyalist leader Ian Paisley warned darkly of a return
>> to conflict. He said the current threat to the union with Britain
>> was "drastic", and told the Ulster Unionist Council delegates
>> they had the "future of Ulster" in their hands.
>>
>> He added: "Let me tell you, no matter what you do you will not
>> bury traditional unionism and you will not bury the unionist
>> people.
>>
>> "The IRA never fought the unionist population. It never was faced
>> with the unionist population. It fought government forces that
>> had their hands tied behind their back and in programmes that are
>> going out now we see more and more the treachery of the British
>> government to sell out this province to our traditional enemies.
>>
>> "We have to face up to the IRA. We have to face up to all
>> terrorists. They must be dealt with and if they do not surrender
>> peacefully, then the arms should be taken from them."
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> >>>>>> Policing proposals undermined by implementation plan
>>
>>
>> Nationalists in the North have been angered by leaked proposals
>> indicating how the Patten proposals on the establishment of a
>> cross-community policing service are to be put into effect.
>>
>> The leak follows the publication of new policing legislation
>> which watered down many of the Patten Commission's proposals,
>> including the name of the new policing service, as a concession
>> to unionists.
>>
>> According to the new document given to the BBC, the openly
>> unionist RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan is to be allowed supervise the
>> introduction of new policing arrangements, including the
>> restructuring and reduction of the existing RUC force.
>>
>> An overseeing commissioner to supervise the implementation of the
>> Patten plan was expected to have been named this week. But it
>> has now been suggested that this will be delayed until next year.
>>
>> Sinn Fein said the plan was evidence of the dilution of the
>> Patten report. West Belfast Assembly member Alex Maskey said:
>> "There's a complete distortion of many of the fundamental aspects
>> of Patten in a way which I think will give no confidence to
>> anybody in the nationalist community."
>>
>> Bairbre de Brun, Sinn Fein party spokesperson on policing,
>> reacting to the leak pointed out that the Patten report --
>> published eight months ago -- had recommended be appointed as
>> soon as possible to assure the community that all aspects of the
>> Patten report were being implemented and being seen to be
>> implemented.
>>
>> "Delay in appointing an Oversight Commissioner would allow the
>> British government to move the goalposts and allow the
>> securocrats to minimise change with impunity," she said.
>>
>> "The Patten report also made it clear that the Oversight
>> Commissioner would 'provide more than a stock-taking function'
>> and would provide an important impetus to the process of
>> transformation. Those opposed to change clearly do not wish this
>> to happen."
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> >>>>>> UN supports ex-prisoners' freedom of expression
>>
>>
>>
>> A United Nations report on freedom of expression has endorsed
>> complaints against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
>> initiated by the republican ex-prisoners' coordinating group,
>> Coiste na n-Iarchimi.
>>
>> A report submitted by Special Rapporteur Abid Hussain to the UN
>> Commission on Human Rights accuses the BBC of bias and criticises
>> the corporation's attitude towards ex prisoners, which it says
>> inhibits reconciliation within the North of Ireland.
>>
>> The report went on to call on the British government to scrap
>> emergency legislation, ban the use of plastic bullets, stop the
>> use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, publish
>> the Stalker-Sampson inquiry and the Stevens' report and guarantee
>> the rights of others are not violated in the exercise of the
>> right to assemble and march.
>>
>> Commenting on the specific issue of freedom of expression for ex
>> prisoners, Coiste spokesperson and former republican POW Laurence
>> McKeown said: "The BBC are living in the past, they're out of
>> step with the current peace process and the responsibilities of
>> conflict resolution."
>>
>> In January 1999, during a press conference to launch Coiste na
>> n-Iarchimi, a BBC film and radio crew interviewed, at their own
>> request, three republican ex prisoners who had been recently
>> released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
>>
>> The former prisoners spoke of their hopes and fears for the
>> future and the difficulties of reintegration. All three supported
>> the Good Friday Agreement and Coiste's self-help ethos.
>>
>> The establishment of Coiste, which represents 20 local groups and
>> projects run by and for republican ex prisoners, was a
>> significant development towards peace and reconciliation.
>>
>> It is estimated that 15,000 republicans have experienced
>> imprisonment during the last 30 years of conflict. Clearly the
>> launch of Coiste was an important media event which should have
>> commanded coverage on local television and radio.
>>
>> Yet coverage of the launch and the interviews of the three ex
>> prisoners were never broadcast by the BBC. Although Radio Ulster
>> indicated on air at 12 noon that there would be a report on the
>> one o'clock news, when the programme was broadcast there was no
>> mention of the launch.
>>
>> According to a newspaper report at the time, the BBC had "pulled
>> a planned radio item about the launch of a prisoners' rights
>> group an hour before transmission... The BBC says it stopped the
>> broadcast as it did not have enough opportunity or time to
>> consult with the relatives of the victims."
>>
>> Following a formal complaint by Coiste Director Mike Ritchie, the
>> BBC cited guidelines drawn up by the corporation to deal with
>> interviews with former and serving prisoners. "BBC NI has
>> reported fully the debate surrounding the release of paramilitary
>> prisoners and their future in this society and will continue to
>> do so in a fair and comprehensive manner," replied radio news
>> editor Kathleen Carragher.
>>
>> "The guidelines cited by the BBC are geared towards dealing with
>> interviews of criminals in England and as such are totally
>> inappropriate for dealing with people imprisoned as a result of
>> political conflict in the Six Counties," says Laurence McKeown.
>>
>> In response, Coiste described the guidelines as offensive to
>> their clients: "A large element of the conflict concerned
>> attempts by the British state to criminalise the republican
>> perspective in general and republican prisoners in particular.
>> From our point of view , dealing with political prisoners as if
>> they are criminals is to abandon neutrality concerning the nature
>> of the conflict."
>>
>> In a submission to UN Special Rapporteur Abid Hussain, Coiste
>> pointed out that the BBC's guidelines "are problematic in that
>> they make no distinction between criminal and political
>> convictions". Coiste pointed out that there was a danger that ex
>> prisoners "will continue to be defined in media terms in relation
>> to their victims rather than in their own right.
>>
>> "Particularly in relation to a transition from conflict, this is
>> unhelpful to our overall project of reintegration and
>> reconciliation. Indeed, it could be argued that such an approach
>> has been deeply undermining of the spirit of the Good Friday
>> Agreement, which was overwhelmingly endorsed by the people of
>> Ireland."
>>
>> But it was Dr David Miller of the Stirling Media Research
>> Institute who pointed out the BBC's hypocrisy. In a letter to
>> Andrew Coleman, the head of news and current affairs of the BBC
>> in the Six Counties, Miller asked why interviews with Irish
>> republican ex prisoners should be governed by guidelines drawn up
>> to deal with criminals.
>>
>> Miller pointed out that there was a section within the guidelines
>> which states: "Interviewing political dissidents and activists is
>> an important part of providing a full understanding of events."
>> The BBC's implementation of the guidelines was not only
>> inappropriate it was arguably duplicitous, he contended.
>>
>> "Are there any occasions on which you have informed victims of
>> the security forces when interviewing them? Have BBC journalists,
>> for example, consistently informed Karen Reilly's parents before
>> an interview with Lee Clegg was broadcast?"
>>
>> Of course they had not. In a submission to the UN Special
>> Rapporteur, Miller pointed out that the "different standards
>> which are applied to individuals or groups is dependent not on
>> their actions but on which side they are." Miller cited the
>> example of Lee Clegg and accused the BBC of double standards.
>>
>> But behind this is an even bigger issue said Miller. "Although
>> British forces have been responsible for a large number of
>> civilian and paramilitary deaths in the conflict, less than ten
>> have been jailed for murders committed while on duty. This does
>> mean that the operation of the justice system in Northern Ireland
>> tends to further disadvantage those who are imprisoned in the
>> sense that they are disproportionately regarded as criminals."
>>
>> Focusing on the BBC in the Six Counties, Miller pointed to the
>> corporation's pro-British agenda and pro-unionist ethos: "The BBC
>> in particular has on the one hand been overly reliant on
>> government statements and briefings during the peace process." On
>> the other hand, he said, "there has been a tendency to treat
>> Orange parades as matters of either cultural expressions or as
>> the focus of disputes rather than as expressions of dominance...
>> the view of Orangeism as fundamentally sectarianism is extremely
>> rarely reported and explained."
>>
>> In their submission to UN official Abid Hussain, Coiste
>> concluded: "BBC NI is open to being politically influenced by
>> unionist anti-Agreement elements who have been very opposed to
>> the prisoner release programme and have used this emotive issue
>> to attack the peace process in general.
>>
>> "It is disappointing that the BBC have not reviewed and altered
>> their guidelines given the changing political situation and in
>> particular the Good Friday Agreement, with its proposals for the
>> release of political prisoners.
>>
>> "That agreement clearly indicates the distinction between
>> political prisoners and ordinary criminals. This is nowhere
>> reflected in the BBC guidelines."
>>
>> In his judgment, the UN Special Rapporteur recognised the rights
>> of victims but went on to endorse Coiste's view that the BBC's
>> "attitude does not favour the reintegration of ex prisoners and
>> reconciliation in Northern Ireland".
>>
>> The rapporteur concluded that the BBC should "review its
>> guidelines in this particular regard, taking into account the
>
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