BBC News | NORTHERN IRELAND | Paramilitary peace pact proposed

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BBC News Online: UK: Northern Ireland

Monday, 6 March, 2000, 13:25 GMT

Paramilitary peace pact proposed

NLA's politcal wing proposing peace pact with loyalists

The political wing of the republican Irish National Liberation Army has said it is working on a non-aggression pact with loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party has said it is trying to forge a pact at grassroots level which would prevent working class communities on both sides of the sectarian divide, from being attacked if the political process breaks down.

Paul Little from the IRSP said his party had taken "a long hard look at the (peace) process" and concluded that something else was needed other than the Good Friday Agreement signed by the province's main political parties.

He said the IRSP was opposed to that agreement which he said has limited political dialogue and acted as a "political straitjacket" on the peace process.

"It has taken communities, especially working class communities, up to the brink and threatening conflict again," Mr Little told BBC Radio Ulster.

"It is raising expectations and dashing them again and we think there needs to be a long hard look at this."

'Working class victims'

But he said that his party believed that the referendums endorsing the agreement north and south were votes showing that ordinary working class people wanted peace. Pact proposed with loyalist paramilitaries the UVF and UFF

Pact proposed with loyalist paramilitaries the UVF and UFF

"It is our view that the majority of the people who either fought the conflict for 30 years or who were victims of it were working class, not all of them but by far, the majority.

"If we are going to build a credible peace for the future we need to start building from the ground up and not the bottom down," he said.

Mr Little said his party had submitted proposals for "a pact between former combatants" to intermediaries for three loyalist groups.

And he said the IRSP had met the Progressive Unionist Party, who are linked to loyalist paramilitaries the Ulster Volunteer Force, and the Ulster Democratic Party, who are linked to the Ulster Freedom Fighters.

Trade unionists and community groups were also involved in dialogue on the pact, he said.

'Plan open for amendment'

The IRSP did not expect other groups to immediately sign up to its proposals, he added, saying that they had only drawn up a first version as a starting point.

"This charter is going out there for amendment, to be added to and to be taken away from.

"What we have, at present, is our analysis. We believe it is a fairly fair analysis of the situation, and certainly we are prepared to defend and define and articulate that position, but it is there for change.

"What we would hope is that we come up with some form of agreement on the wording for a charter," he said.

The IRSP dedicated a controversial memorial statue of a balaclava-wearing paramilitary to two INLA members who died in the 1981 hunger strikes in Derry City cemetery at the weekend.

But Mr Little denied the statue was meant to be provocative to unionists and loyalists.

The INLA has been on ceasefire since August 1998 and has benefited from the early prisoner release scheme despite its opposition to the Good Friday Agreement.

Related to this story:
Terrorist statue will 'not be moved' (05 Mar 00 | Northern Ireland)
Fury as INLA killer gets parole (04 Nov 99 | Northern Ireland)
INLA 'declares war is over' (08 Aug 99 | UK)
Paramilitary groups (16 Feb 99 | Paramilitaries)

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