The announcement by the IRA that it has broken off contact with the international decommissioning body headed by General John de Chastelain is a retrograde step and should be deplored. At a time when relations between the two communities within Northern Ireland are in an extremely fragile state, this development will make it more difficult to advance the objectives of the Belfast Agreement.
The IRA said it remained committed to a just and lasting peace and that its cessation of armed activity remained intact. But such words will carry little weight with the unionist community which regards the IRA's very existence as a potent threat to democratic government. Opinion polls have consistently shown that both communities want an end to the IRA and to all loyalist paramilitary activities.
Officials in Dublin and London last night cautioned against investing too much significance in the development. On the last occasion the IRA broke contact with General de Chastelain, about two years ago, the republican movement had again come under pressure from the two Governments. The break-down on this occasion has been interpreted as an attempt by the IRA to deflect attention from the call by the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, for its voluntary disbandment. Republicans argue that a quantum leap is required, not just from the IRA, but from unionists and the British Government. They want reassurance that action will be taken on policing and equality legislation, on a Bill of Rights, on demilitarisation, on cross-border institutions and on a renewal of the power-sharing executive. In attempting to shift the spotlight from themselves, they have also sought to turn the clock back so that decommissioning, rather than dissolution, will top the agenda. The IRA is clearly not ready to go away.
Later today, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, and its chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, will meet the new Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, at Stormont. They are expected to demand the full implementation of the terms of the Belfast Agreement and an indicative timetable for action by the British Government on a range of contentious issues. Such demands, coupled with IRA intransigence, have become a feature of both republican negotiations and their public relations.
The suspension of the Northern Ireland institutions, following Ulster Unionist dissension and the intelligence-gathering activities by the IRA at Stormont, has created a dangerous political vacuum in advance of the Assembly elections, due next May. Mr Blair sought to break that impasse by calling on the IRA to disband. That, clearly, has not worked. The original tasks that confronted the Governments remain: to secure progress on policing, demilitarisation, decommissioning and the stability of the Northern Ireland institutions. And to underpin the democratic principles of the Belfast Agreement.