Britain begins releasing Northern Ireland guerrillas from Maze prison

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -- Britain on Friday released the first of 86 jailed republican and loyalist guerrillas to be set free under Northern Ireland's landmark Good Friday peace accord.

Eight pro-British Ulster Volunteer Force prisoners were the first to step from the province's notorious Maze top security prison at about 9.30 a.m. They used a side exit to avoid the media and were whisked away in cars.

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Britain is to free 78 prisoners from the Maze and eight from other jails. All qualify for early release from long sentences because their guerrilla groups are respecting cease-fires that underpin the province's fragile peace process.

Dozens of friends and relatives of pro-British loyalist prisoners gathered outside the Maze's turnstile gate bearing Ulster Defense Association banners.

Loyalist prisoners' spokesman John White of the Ulster Democratic Party said outside the jail: "All sides have suffered greatly, and we acknowledge the hurt felt by the victims of this war and their families."

William Smith, a former UVF guerrilla and a member of the group's political ally, the Progressive Unionist Party, said the first batch of freed prisoners had left quietly to avoid "any sense of triumphalism" at their release.

"Today is a historical day, as we witness the imminent closure of this infamous prison camp," said Smith, who was the first loyalist prisoner to be sent to the Maze after he was jailed for murder in 1972.

"Long Kesh (the Maze prison) touched the lives of many thousands of families within our community (and) must never be forgotten nor be allowed to repeat itself," he added.

The releases bring to 428 the number of Protestant loyalist and pro-Irish Roman Catholic republicans freed under the 1998 accord -- drawn up to give the province new hope after 30 years of sectarian strife.

The Maze -- which gained notoriety as western Europe's biggest guerrilla jail -- is being left with around 16 inmates and will close by the end of the year.

The prisoners due to be released on Friday comprised 53 republicans, including 46 Irish Republican Army guerrillas, and 33 loyalists from various armed groups.

The Protestant prisoners were released first, to be followed by the Catholics in a carefully choreographed operation to avoid any confrontation between the rival groups.

IRA men due to walk free include James McArdle, who was said to have driven the lorry that carried the London Docklands bomb from Ireland to Britain in 1996 and was given 25 years for plotting the blast that shattered the IRA's last cease-fire.

However, as security officials cautioned that IRA splinter guerrilla group the Real IRA may be plotting a campaign of violence, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson warned the prisoner releases were conditional.

"People like Mr McArdle and all the others being released today are not being given an amnesty -- they are being let out ... on condition they do not re-engage in violence or paramilitary activity," Mandelson told BBC television.

If the newly freed prisoners beach the terms of their release, "they will be recalled, they will be put back in prison and let there be absolutely no doubt about that," he added.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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