The decision by the INLA to call a ceasefire has been warmly welcomed by Northern politicians. The deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, said it was "long overdue" but noted that the group had acknowledged the Irish people's wish for peace.
Mr Mallon said it was tragic that so many people had had to die in Northern Ireland. However, anything that "helps to bring peace, and an end to the suffering and death is a very good thing", he said. "The people of Northern Ireland, of the whole island of Ireland and all those who have suffered everywhere, want that peace and have said so very clearly. They, and the people of Omagh, deserve no less."
The First Minister, Mr David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said he was glad the INLA had called a ceasefire and "trusted that they will be ceasing violence permanently and for good". He said the announcement was a reflection that Northern Ireland was slowly and sometimes "with horrendous difficulties", as witnessed in Omagh, "slowly moving out of the Troubles we have been in for the past three decades".
Sinn Fein's chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, welcomed the announcement and said it was "now up to the politicians to use the opportunity presented by another group declaring a ceasefire" to "forge ahead with the implementation of the changes which the people voted for in the Assembly elections".
In what was viewed as an appeal to the Continuity IRA, the last group that has not declared a ceasefire, Mr McLaughlin urged any group not on ceasefire to "immediately announce an end to their campaign in order to allow the peace process to grow".
Mr Ken Maginnis, the UUP security spokesman, said the announcement was encouraging. "Whatever the ulterior motives and word games attaching to such a declaration . . . the terms of the INLA statement are a clear acknowledgment of the futility of terrorist violence for political ends. They are the inevitable outcome of the present overwhelming force of democratic opinion."
While welcoming the ceasefire Mr Billy Hutchinson, a Progressive Unionist Party leader who has survived three INLA attempts on his life in 18 months, said there would "be some people who will treat it with the same scepticism as the LVF statement". (The Loyalist Volunteer Force recently declared that its campaign of violence had ended for good.)
The Northern Ireland Political Development Minister, Mr Paul Murphy, said it underlined the need for all ceasefires to be maintained in word and deed. "The terrorist outrage against and the suffering of the people in Omagh have underlined this even more."
His comments were echoed by his Tory counterpart, Mr Andrew Mackay, who said he hoped the dreadful killings in Omagh had "brought the INLA to its senses and that this ceasefire is for real". Mr Mackay said the INLA would be "judged on its future actions and not mere words".
Mr William Thompson, Ulster Unionist MP for West Tyrone, also said he hoped the ceasefire was genuine and not called because of the threat of a security clampdown. "I think it's very hopeful when an organisation as ruthless as the INLA decides to issue a ceasefire and also says sorry for what they've done," he said.
But the Workers Party chairman, Mr Tom French, said "suspensions of violence are not enough. There must be a clear and unequivocal statement from this organisations that their campaign of terrorism is now over for good."