The three alleged IRA members arrested in Colombia were "clearly assisting the FARC with training", and the guerilla group's efficiency in carrying out bombings had significantly improved in the past nine months, the head of counter-terrorism in the US State Department, Mr Frank Taylor, said yesterday.
However, speaking to journalists at the presentation of the State Department's annual terrorism report, Mr Taylor added that they had not established a connection in Colombia leading back to the broader IRA.
The State Department's annual report to Congress, "Patterns of Global Terrorism", refers to IRA decommissioning as a "historic step", but it says that the IRA "retains the ability to conduct operations" and expresses concern at the arrests of the Sinn Féin supporters in Colombia. The report refers to the arrested men as "alleged explosives experts helping the FARC to prepare for an urban terrorism campaign".
In citing Cuba as one of seven "state supporters of terrorism", the report specifically points to it having played host for several years to Sinn Féin's representative on the island, Mr Niall Connolly, who is now facing charges in Colombia.
The report notes that US representatives have "made clear Washington's displeasure about possible IRA/FARC connections, stating that the US will have no tolerance for any ongoing or future co-operation between these organisations".
The report notes that the FARC has killed at least 10 US citizens since 1980 and that three US missionaries are still unaccounted for.
The report also reiterates President Bush's commitment last March to assist the Irish peace process "in any way the governments would find useful".
In surveying Irish terrorist groups, the report puts the strength of the "Real IRA", listed officially as a "foreign terrorist organisation", at between 100 and 200 activists, while the Continuity IRA is said to have "fewer than 50".
On the loyalist side, it notes that estimates of manpower in the UDA/UFF "vary from 2,000 to 5,000 members with several hundred active in paramilitary operations". It puts the LVF activist base at 150 while the Red Hand Defenders, who are seen as a front for the LVF, are said to have "up to 20 members, some of whom have considerable experience in terrorist tactics and bomb-making".
Meanwhile, the appeal by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement against its listing by the US as a "foreign terrorist organisation" has been through the first stage of legal process. Lawyers for the group argued in the Washington District Court last week that it was entitled to prior notification and a State Department hearing ahead of the listing. The court reserved its decision on the procedural issue, which must be decided ahead of the substantive appeal.
Speaking at yesterday's presentation of the State Department report, the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, warned that terrorist groups were trying "every way that they can" to secure weapons of mass destruction, whether chemical, nuclear or biological. He said that terrorism had to be fought with every weapon of statecraft: "In the global campaign against it, no country has the luxury of remaining on the sideline, because there are no sidelines."
Mr Taylor said that, to date, 1,600 Al-Qaeda operatives had been arrested in 95 countries while some $100 million in cash had been blocked. He pointed out that the US was assisting the development of the anti-terrorism capability of more than 100 countries.
