MITCHELL REPORT REJECTS BRITISH DISARMAMENT PRECONDITION
24-01-1996 16:30:00 | Armenia | World News
DUBLIN, Jan 24 (AFP) - The international commission on
disarming Northern Ireland's paramilitaries rejects London's
insistence that illegally held weapons be handed in before
all-party talks on the province's future can begin, a newspaper
reported here Wednesday.
The Irish Independent quoted a leaked copy of the body's final
report -- to be published officially later Wednesday -- as
stating that paramilitaries will not dispose of their arsenals
before talks and this "is the reality with which all concerned
must deal".
It recommends instead that the pro-united Ireland Irish
Republican Army (IRA) and pro-British Protestant paramilitaries
should be able to surrender their weapons only during the course
of roundtable talks aimed at achieving a final political
settlement for Northern Ireland.
The commission headed by former US senator George Mitchell
handed the 20-page report to the British and Irish governments
on Monday.
The report concludes that there must be "a clear commitment on
the part of those in possession of arms to work constructively
to achieve full and verifiable decommissioning as part of the
process of all-party negotiations," according to the Irish
Independent.
Tuesday's Irish Times, quoting sources in Washington, said the
commission would also require the IRA's political wing, Sinn
Fein, to formally agree to consent of the Ulster population for
any institutional change in the province, something Sinn Fein
has not yet accepted.
rm/jb
AFP /AA1234/240311 GMT JAN 96