Republican News · Thursday 24 January 2002

Cautious welcome for demil moves

Sinn Féin Assembly member for Derry Mitchel McLaughlin has given a guarded welcome to the news that Ebrington Barracks in Derry's Waterside is to close.

It was also announced that the British Army watchtower and post at Glassdrumman in South Armagh is being demolished and a security gate in Newtownhamilton will be opened.

Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy said the move was "a welcome step on the long road to demilitarisation", while Toni Carragher of the South Armagh Farmers and Residents Coalition urged that the land be handed back to its owners and for a rolling programme of demilitarisation".

This latest move marks the first move on the part of the British government to completely remove a base in South Armagh. Until now, the British government has only dismantled parts of bases or taken down some watchtowers within a major compound.

The closure of the Ebrington base in Derry will mean that the British soldiers stationed there will be redeployed to a base in England but will remain under the command of the British GOC in the Six Counties.

Sinn Fín national chair Mitchel McLaughlin welcomed the move as a step in the right direction but aded that "this piecemeal approach by the British government to demilitarisation is too slow. While the decision to close Ebrington and Glassdrumman will be welcomed by the local community the fact is that two years is too long."