The political wing of the republican paramilitary group, the Irish National Liberation Army, has rejected overwhelmingly a call for an immediate ceasefire until the conclusion of the Stormont talks.
At its weekend ardfheis in Dublin, the Irish Republican Socialist Party rejected by 109 votes to 11 an ardchomhairle motion advocating that it ask the INLA leadership to declare a ceasefire, and that the party hold an extraordinary ardfheis at the conclusion of the talks to decide future policy.
But a further ardchomhairle motion endorsing the INLA's policy, described by a party spokesman as "defensive retaliation", was carried unanimously.
This motion recognised and supported the "current position of the INLA as being both courageous and pragmatic", adding that "the actions of the INLA over the summer months in defence of the nationalist working class in the six counties undoubtedly lessened the threat to that constituency".
It declared that the ardfheis "recognises the current political process as fatally flawed on a number of points. There can be nothing achieved at the Stormont talks that will fit in with republican socialist objectives. For that reason, the IRSP recommends that the INLA takes no direct action against the talks process.
The flawed political process has to be seen to fail because of its own flaws, not some action by the INLA." The debate on the motions was in private and journalists were later briefed on the result. A spokesman said both motions had been tabled to allow for a full debate among delegates. He said the INLA had begun its campaign of "defensive retaliation" in March 1995.
"Any action by the INLA has been in retaliation for the aggression by the British crown forces," he added. Party sources said that those advocating the call for a ceasefire did so on the basis that the INLA's policy amounted to a de facto ceasefire and that the party should not be seen to be mischievous despite its belief that the peace process is flawed. Addressing delegates at a session open to the media, Mr Gary Adams, a member of the party's ardchomhairle, said the party viewed the emergence of the "pan-nationalist front consisting of the Dublin and American governments, the Catholic Church, SDLP and Sinn Fein as potentially damaging to the struggle for a socialist republic, as it is based on capitalist and imperialist principles."
He said it could not and would not deliver the political change necessary to improve life for those on the margins of society.
"In the North, we note the continued unionist-loyalist pogroms against nationalist working class areas, which have resulted in hundreds of families being forced out of their homes since the declaration of the conditional loyalist ceasefire," said Mr Adams.
"These forced sectarian evictions have not even merited the attention of the British government. Many families are still homeless. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this lack of attention is that these cowardly attacks on defenceless men, women and children are sanctioned by the British government as a means to keep loyalist organisations on board the current process."
Describing as "spurious", the claim by the loyalist organisations to be socialist, he claimed that "they remain wedded to the British-unionist ascendancy and continue to attack their fellow working class within the nationalist community".
