Contradictions of British position exposed
Marcas Mac Ruairí highlights key aspects of the Sinn
Féin rebuttal of the British talks `indictment'
SINN Féin has categorically denied that it was involved
in either of the two killings last week.
The British government, in seeking to have the party
which represents 45% of the nationalist electorate
excluded, has singularly failed to offer any evidence.
Despite this they are insisting that Sinn Féin must go,
as did the UDP following a string of random murders of
nationalists.
The action taken against the UDP related to the murders
of Eddie Treanor, Larry Brennan and Ben Hughes. It did
not relate in any way to the deaths of six other
Catholics who were killed in the period between 5
December and 24 January.
The British government has made no formal
representation to George Mitchell in relation to these
killings. Dr Mowlam claims she has been given no
assessment from the RUC on who is responsible for them.
When she was asked whether she had sought assessments
from the RUC on the killing of two Catholics after the
UFF reinstated their `ceasefire', she said she had not.
Breaches of the loyalist ceasefire extend back far
beyond the recent killing spree which commenced with
the death of Gerry Devlin on 5 December 1997. Prior to
that murder, loyalists had already been responsible for
nine murders since the declaration of their conditional
ceasefire.
The period witnessed numerous attempted murders,
loyalist bombing attempts, threats against the
nationalist community and the conviction of one of the
PUP's talks team on gun running charges.
In May last year the RUC conceded that all the
constituent parts of the CLMC had breached their
ceasefires. Attempts by Sinn Féin to uncover the facts
in many of these events has been blocked and the RUC
has refused to release the forensic details of the
shooting of John Slane.
The British government cannot therefore claim to have a
consistent position on the Mitchell Principles.
The exclusion of the UDP last month came only at the
end of a litany of violence which started at an early
stage of the peace process; it came only after a UFF
admission that they had killed three Catholics.
They were killings designed to pre-determine the
outcome of negotiations by intimidating nationalists
and pressurising the two governments. The UDP claim to
politically represent those involved.
Therefore, the indictment of the UDP represents the
exception rather than the rule.
Following the shooting of drugs dealer Brendan Campbell
and leading UDA man Robert Dougan last week, RUC
sources gave off-the-record news briefings alleging
that the IRA was involved.
The forensic history of the weapons used in the
Campbell shooting was made available within a week in
stark contrast to the refusal to disclose forensic
details of weapons used in loyalist killings.
In refusing to elaborate on the evidence she claims to
have, Mo Mowlam has said that as people have been
charged it is now sub judice. Sinn Féin delegates have
argued that as she is out of the juristiction and as
the talks are confidential she is free to tell the
plenary session the details of the evidence.
In failing to do this she has not just failed to show
how Sinn Féin has dishonoured its commitments, but she
has exposed serious contradictions and double standards
in the British government's handling of the peace
process.
Of much importance is the political context in which
these events have transpired and in particular the
attitude and tactics of the Ulster Unionist Party to
the peace process. Sinn Féin is in absolutely no doubt
that the Unionists have been a dominant influence on
the British government's position in relation to the
crisis in the peace process.
The UUP tried to prevent the peace process starting, it
tried to block progress, tried to keep Sinn Féin out of
the process and is now threatening to leave if Sinn
Féin is not put out.
This approach of Trimble is tactical and riven with
opportunism. It is about resisting change and using any
means within the talks process to subvert its
potential.
Trimble had no difficulties meeting Billy Wright when
the residents of the Garvaghy Road were under siege;
nor a problem with making a pact with representatives
of both the UDP and the PUP; nor a problem meeting with
convicted loyalist killers in December.
Coupled with the behaviour of Unionists in councils and
quangos throughout the Six Counties there is not a
scintilla of proof that this current Unionist
leadership is different from those that went before. It
is clear that David Trimble would take us back to the
days of James Craig and Basil Brooke. And if that
sustains the conditions in which - as in the past -
conflict became inevitable, he is prepared to accept
that.
In attempting to connect Sinn Féin to the two killings
last week, the British government has exposed how it
treated loyalist attacks on nationalists with
expediency. It is expediently trying to have Sinn Féin
put out of the talks to facilitate Unionist
intransigence.
The media spin generated by briefings from various
British official sources supports this analysis as
being correct; suggesting a pre-determined ruling by
the two governments.
The starting point of this crisis is the RUC. It has
been repeatedly indicted by international human rights
agencies for torture, killing nationalists, collusion
with loyalist death squads and cover-ups. Some 3,000
security files originating from the British forces
including the RUC have ended up in loyalist hands. This
is the force that sought in recent weeks to cover up
information about the killings of Catholics.
It is bizarre that its word should be taken as
independent, objective or credible.
It is proposterous to suggest that Sinn Féin was
involved in last week's killings. It is also
proposterous that the 172,500 people who voted Sinn
Féin should be held hostage to the actions of any
organisation or individual over which they neither nor
the party representing them have no control.
There is no case in any concept of democratic practice
or in the concept of natural justice to attempt to
exclude Sinn Féin. It has not breached the rules and
procedures underpinning the talks process. Any attempt
to exclude Sinn Féin as has been proposed is a
deliberate act of discrimination against its electorate
and only erodes confidence in and the credibility of
the talks.
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