Republican News · Thursday 20 February 2003

British must come clean on collusion

Sinn Féin MP Martin McGuinness and party President Gerry Adams MP met with a US Congressional delegation in Belfast on Wednesday afternoon. Among the items the republican leaders raised was the ongoing demand for an international public judicial inquiry into British collusion with loyalist death squads.

The delegation consisted of Jim Walsh and Jack Quinn, both New York Republicans, Democrat Carolyn McCarthy, also from New York, and Pennsylvania Democrat Tim Holden. Walsh organised the trip in response to the crisis following the suspension of the institutions and to send a strong signal that the US is still engaged with the Irish peace process, that Ireland is still on the agenda, and that US politicians are anxious to help.

"In light of the Stevens recommendation that senior British Military Agents and senior RUC Special Branch Officers be prosecuted for their role in the murder of citizens through collusion and ongoing revelations about the role of Brian Nelson," said McGuinness, " we reiterated our view to the Congressional delegation that the only way to achieve justice in this matter is through an international public judicial inquiry.

"In any other country in Europe a government involved in targeting and killing citizens through their agents would be brought down. In this case the British government is still actively resisting the demands of the families of those killed, for the truth."