Equality denied
As the March 10 deadline approaches and the artificially created
decommissioning deadlock in the peace process continues, nationalists
and republicans in the Six Counties could be forgiven for asking what
they have gained from the Good Friday Agreement.
A cornerstone of Good Friday was the equality agenda, but to date,
one of the few signs of activity in implementing the Agreement is the
still powerless assembly on the hill at Stormont. Sinn Féin has been
burdened with the task of attaining unilateral decommissioning before
any progress can be made.
Meanwhile, the British and unionist arsenal, which stood at 133,769
legally held weapons in December 1995, not to mention the guns of the
loyalist death squads, RUC, RIR, and the British Army, remains intact
and under no apparent pressure from those clamouring for
decommissioning.
British forces continue to use nationalist areas as training grounds,
spyposts and installations remain, and foot patrols have actually
increased in nationalist areas of Tyrone and Fermanagh. The Royal
Ulster Constabulary, a force whose sectarian record has been
repeatedly documented by human rights groups, and a body which is
entirely unacceptable to nationalists, continues to operate
unchecked, almost a year after the agreement was signed.
Nationalist leaders from Portadown's Garvaghy Road travelled to
Dublin this week to try to publicize their plight and gain support
for their right to live free from sectarian harassment. Their payback
for the Parades Commission's refusal to allow Orangemen to coat-trail
through their area last July has been almost 250 days of siege and
around 160 loyalist demonstrations. In the town where RUC officers
stood by while Robert Hamill was kicked to death by a loyalist mob,
nationalists in Portadown, like nationalists throughout the Six
Counties, have the right to ask where is their peace dividend. Where
is their freedom from sectarian harassment? In short, where is the
promised equality for nationalist rights.
Now is the time for the agreement to be implemented in full.
Nationalists have already had to wait too long to see visible
progress.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/harp.gif)