DUP details 'IRA activity'

IRA tested weapons in Colombia say sources

A Democratic Unionist Party delegation has discussed claims of continuing IRA activity in Northern Ireland and abroad with the Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid.

The delegation held talks with Dr Reid at Hillsborough Castle on Tuesday.

The DUP has been calling for the government to exclude Sinn Fein from government after a security assessment seen by the BBC said the IRA had been developing weapons in Colombia.

Speaking after the meeting, DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said he did not believe the government would impose sanctions on Sinn Fein - no matter what the IRA did.

Peter Robinson led DUP delegation

He described Dr Reid's assessment that the IRA's ceasefire was intact as "nonsense".

"In order to prop up the so-called peace process, the secretary of state is prepared to close his eyes to anything that the Provisional IRA do," said Mr Robinson.

"I cannot think of any activity that the Provisional IRA would engage in that would cause this secretary of state to say that they were in breach of their ceasefire and that is the nonsense that we have by the way of a process in Northern Ireland."

Allegations

IRA leaders have denied authorising any action in the south American country, but unionist politicians say the latest security assessment points to a clear breach of the IRA's ceasefire.

The allegations over Colombia, and a security breach at Belfast's police headquarters linked to the republican group, have raised questions about the IRA's backing for the fragile Northern Ireland political process.

But the IRA repeated its denial that the leadership had sent anyone to Colombia to train or to engage in military co-operation with any group.

A spokesman said the group firmly rejected "unsubstantiated allegations" about IRA activity in Colombia which he said had come from "unnamed securocrats who had continually sought to undermine the peace process".

But a security assessment given to the BBC suggests the IRA had been using Colombia as a training ground for its "engineering department" - to develop new types of weaponry, including rockets.

The assessment also said two leading members of the IRA army council gave the go-ahead for the operation.