IRA rejects independent audit idea

Reid's independent auditor plan looks in trouble even before being announced

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The Irish Republican Army has rejected UK government proposals for an independent auditor to look into alleged breaches of paramilitary cease-fires.

An unidentified spokesman for the nationalist paramilitary group told the Dublin-based republican newspaper An Phoblacht, that the plans only served "the interests of those opposed to change."

The response has been criticised by protestant political parties who are pushing for an auditor which they believe would show that the IRA has orchestrated sectarian street disturbances during the summer.

The auditor idea sprang from attempts to halt the paramilitary violence which has left more than 200 police officers and civilians injured, and which has left the 1998 power-sharing Good Friday Accord in a fragile state.

Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid said in July he would consider appointing an independent monitor to judge whether the IRA and outlawed hardline Protestant groups had breached their cease-fires.

The IRA's comments were backed by the chairman of the Republican party Sinn Fein, Mitchel McLaughlin, who said politicians should focus on political solutions to the cease-fire issue rather than adopting proposals for an independent auditor.

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An auditor would simply "keep the paramilitaries centre stage, when in fact what should be getting put centre stage is the activity that goes on a day-to-day basis with political representatives," he said.

"I think that we should stick rigidly to the Good Friday agreement," he added.

It would be better "if people were to audit the political progress more consistently and more regularly to see just how much progress has been made."

But a party source for the Ulster Unionist Party told the UK's Press Association that the rejection of a cease-fire monitor was indicative of the fact that the provisional movement "must have something to hide."

Nationalist SDLP Assembly member Alban Maginness was also critical.

"The IRA is unnecessarily premature when this idea has not even been fully or definitively fleshed out," the North Belfast MLA said.

Round of diplomacy

The move comes as Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble prepares to meet UK Prime Minister Tony Blair at Downing Street on Thursday.

Trimble faces another crunch meeting with his party over the peace process and power sharing system at a UUP ruling council on September 21.

The Northern Ireland first minister is also set to meet U.S. President George W. Bush's special adviser to the region Ambassador Richard Haass on Friday.

Haass, who flew to Belfast on Thursday for a second round of meetings, will meet Sinn Fein during his stay as well as the new Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland Hugh Orde.

Others on his itinerary include the cross community Women's Coalition, the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party, the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and Mark Durkan's SDLP.

Reid signalled this week that he was considering ways to make information about breaches of the cease-fires more transparent.