IRA confirms arms dump inspections

Tony Blair, left, in Belfast on Thursday with Seamus Mallon

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -- The IRA announced a fresh inspection of hidden arms dumps by international monitors on Thursday as Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks in Northern Ireland to bolster the British province's shaky peace accord.

Blair urged Protestant waverers to keep the Good Friday peace pact alive and insisted that IRA disarmament, which the pro-British unionists are demanding, was "part of the agreement."

Britain said two monitors -- former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and South African Cyril Ramaphosa -- had reported to the province's disarmament commission.

"We and the Irish government understand from the decommissioning commission that a second inspection of IRA dumps has now taken place, and they have received a report to that effect from President Ahtisaari and Mr Ramaphosa," a Northern Ireland Office statement said.

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) disclosed the inspection -- aimed to show that arms from its long anti-British war are no longer being used -- as tension grew ahead of a crucial Saturday conference of the Protestant Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).

"We specifically announced that we would repeat the inspection of a number of arms dumps by third parties to confirm that our weapons are secure," the IRA said.

"We now wish to confirm that this re-inspection has taken place and thank those involved for their co-operation."

Ramaphosa and Ahtisaari first examined arms stockpiles in June.

The IRA is observing a ceasefire after a 30-year war against British rule in Northern Ireland.

U.S. President Bill Clinton joined Britain and Ireland in applauding the IRA's decision, announced on Wednesday, that it would permit a fresh look at some of its hidden arsenal.

But as Blair arrived, three bomb alerts underlined the fragility of a peace that has been shaken by sporadic attacks by armed dissidents who oppose the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

A detective escaped injury when a bomb under his car failed to explode in a carpark at Antrim, north Belfast. A police spokesman blamed Protestant "loyalist paramilitaries."

Army bomb experts also dealt with two "suspicious objects" found in other parts of the province, police said.

First Minister David Trimble under pressure from his Ulster Unionist Party

Blair's visit was seen as a bid to garner support for First Minister David Trimble, who is under pressure from within his Ulster Unionist Party over his decision to share power with Sinn Fein, even though the IRA has not disarmed.

Blair appealed to unionists ahead of their conference not to squander the accord's hard-won political advances. He warned that disarmament would be out of reach if the coalition fell.

"This is the only way forward for the future. If the Executive collapses and the Assembly then collapses, which must automatically happen, you don't have a process at all, you don't have decommissioning," he told reporters.

Confirmation of the second inspection was seen as a lift for the peace process which might ease pressure on Trimble.

UUP hardliners on Saturday plan to urge grassroots members to back their demand for Trimble to pull out of the ruling coalition by November 30 if the IRA has not disarmed by then.

But Trimble, at a news conference, dismissed the five-week deadline as "a crude device."

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

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Sinn Fein
Ulster Unionist Party
Northern Ireland Office

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