Kelly expects new IRA arms dumps inspection

The Sinn Fein representative, Mr Gerry Kelly, has said he believes there will be a further inspection of Provisional IRA arms…

The Sinn Fein representative, Mr Gerry Kelly, has said he believes there will be a further inspection of Provisional IRA arms dumps. He added that it would have happened earlier if the British government had honoured "its commitments on policing and demilitarisation".

He was "confident the IRA would honour its commitments". However, he said, Sinn Fein could not "shoehorn" the Provisionals into meeting deadlines for weapons inspection.

In a statement, he warned against changing the Belfast Agreement to strengthen the position of Mr David Trimble.

"For my part, I remain confident the IRA will honour its commitments," he said. He referred to Mr Peter Mandelson's demand for the Provisional IRA to repeat its confidence-building measures.

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If the British government had kept its side of the May agreement, he believed, the confidence-building measures would have been repeated by now and re-engagement with Gen John De Chastelain's International Decommissioning Commission would have begun.

"It remains my view that these developments will occur," Mr Kelly said.