CIRA statement amid disturbances

British Army bomb-disposal teams found a “viable explosive device” during a bomb alert in County Tyrone this week.

The object was found near the village of Moygashel and taken away for examination.

The alert came last weekend following days of hoaxes and alerts across the North.

The disruption continued this week, with three further alerts in the greater Belfast area and one in Fermanagh last weekend and two others yesterday in west Belfast.

There was also an alert at the former Derry home Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, while Sinn Féin’s Mitchel McLaughlin reported that a stone had been thrown at his home in the Bogside area.

A number of community organisations in west Belfast joined together to condemn last weeks’ spate of hoax bomb warnings.

A letter, signed by a variety of groups, individuals and political figures, states: “We, the undersigned, wish to make clear our absolute opposition to the hijackings, bomb hoaxes and disturbances that have occurred in west Belfast over the past few weeks.

“These actions are pointless and futile and serve no cause. We call on those responsible to immediately halt these attacks on the west Belfast community.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the disorder, which appears to have been co-ordinated by dissident groups.

CIRA STATEMENT

However, the Continuity IRA has prepared a militant message to be read at graveside orations on Easter Sunday.

The group, which claimed the shooting of PSNI member Stephen Carroll on March 9, stated that the “war has been carried to the English enemy” in the last year.

“Nobody should be surprised at this development by the Continuity IRA,” it said.

“As long as British occupation forces remain in Ireland that will be the inevitable result of their presence here.”

The following is the full text of the statement, issued in the name of the Leadership of the Republican Movement.

ON the occasion of the 93rd anniversary of the historic Easter Rising of 1916, the Leadership of the Republican Movement extends greetings to Irish people throughout Ireland and in exile around the world who are gathered today at the graves of the patriot dead or at monuments in their honour.

In particular we salute our Republican prisoners in Portlaoise and in Maghaberry, Co Antrim and assure them of our full support. They are not forgotten and we take this opportunity to endorse the recent action of the Maghaberry prisoners in clearing their wing of non-political prisoners.

This move was never more necessary in view of the circulation of garbled media messages which we believe to be British-inspired. We cherish our reputation and repudiate the smear spread about by the Provo leadership that we are criminal and not political and that it is permissible to inform the British forces about us.

We condemn criminality inside and outside the prisons and deplore the misuse of our name by those who collaborate with the British and urge young people to join the enemy’s occupation forces in Ireland. We uphold as equal partners and comrades “the Felons of Our Land” in the various prisons.

In the year since last Easter the war has been carried to the English enemy. Nobody should be surprised at this development by the Continuity IRA. As long as British occupation forces remain in Ireland that will be the inevitable result of their presence here. The lessons of history are working out again in our time.

In the past year also the Lisbon Treaty which seeks to elevate the EU into a United States of Europe was defeated by popular vote with Republican Sinn Féin to the fore. As was the case with other results not to their liking, the outcome was not acceptable to the politicians and bureaucrats in Brussels and Dublin. We must prepare and work to give them another resounding reverse.

The global financial and economic system is now in crisis and Ireland is not immune from the effects of this. The greed which drives the capitalist system has enriched a small group and now leaves millions of ordinary people impoverished.

THE Irish Republican Movement has always upheld the sovereignty of the Irish people and the rights of the people against all who would oppress or exploit them for selfish gain. We reassert this sovereignty here today as we honour the sacred memory of those men and women who died to uphold that sovereignty.

Cowardly, craven governments may bow down to the might of private capital, often accepting pay-offs and “dig-outs” themselves, but the Irish Republican Movement, as long as it remains true to its principles, will not abandon the common people of Ireland and will seek to lead them to build a democratic socialist system based on justice for all.

Arising from the present crises and in the coming year opportunities may present themselves to seize the initiative. The SAOL NUA document charts a way forward and we must be always ready to act on it.

A type of “two-nation” mentality is being forced on us by the media. Ireland, we are told, is the 26-County State and the Six Occupied Counties make up another place altogether. Together both entities are, according to the official line, “the island of Ireland”. All Ireland is replaced by “all island”.

We reject such misleading descriptions of our historic country and pledge our allegiance once more to our one and only Ireland. Even as we prepared for our Easter ceremonies, internment without trial was re-introduced by the British government in our Six Occupied Counties in the form of 28-day detention. We must be on guard and bend ourselves to our great task.

Urgent Appeal