Clerical witnesses could break Northern Ireland stalemate says church leader

-13/12/04

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Clerical witnesses could break Northern Ireland stalemate says church leader

-13/12/04

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church has said that more clerical witnesses to decomissioning of arms, could provide a solution to the political stalemate.

Reverend Ken Newell said any arms move in Northern Ireland should be witnessed by four clergymen including someone “who has lost a loved one”.

Photographs of decommissioning were desirable but not essential, he said.

Sinn Fein is facing concerted pressure from the British and Irish governments to deliver photographs of IRA disarmament.

The Irish Republican Army last week announced it was willing to scrap its remaining weapons stockpiles – but only if both governments and Protestant leaders dropped their demands for the process to be photographed for the public.

Mr Newell told BBC Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence; “From the unionist side anyhow, one of the clerical witnesses should be a minister who has lost a loved one,” he said.

“(Someone) who is very concerned that this whole thing is done with credibility and will build confidence in the community.

“I think we have got to consider increasing the number of witnesses to four, and put in there someone who has been a victim of the Troubles that we have been through.”

The British-Irish proposals said that decommissioning would be witnessed by two clergymen.

On Sunday, Mr Paisley insisted that he would not move from his demand for photographic evidence of decommissioning.

The DUP leader told Sunday Sequence that he would not compromise on the issue after “previous failed attempts”.

“If we hadn’t three charades of so-called decommissioning, we wouldn’t have to be as strong on this matter,” the North Antrim MP said.

“We must first of all have an independent observer and that independent observer must be free to do what he likes as far as having a notebook, as far having his own inventory, as far as saying what time so many arms were destroyed.

“He must be absolutely free but, of course, that has never been agreed by the IRA.

“Then he must be able to have photographs taken by the (disarmament) commission, not by the IRA, on every step taken for the destruction of those arms – photographs before they were destroyed, photographs when they are destroying and photographs of after they’re destroyed.”

The political institutions in Northern Ireland have been suspended since October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering at the Northern Ireland Office.

The DUP and Sinn Fein became the largest unionist and nationalist parties after assembly elections in November 2003.

However, the two parties have never been able to reach a deal which would allow a power-sharing executive to be formed, and Northern Ireland continues to be governed by direct rule from Westminster.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish premier Bertie Ahern published joint government proposals for power-sharing in Belfast.


Clerical witnesses could break Northern Ireland stalemate says church leader

-13/12/04

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church has said that more clerical witnesses to decomissioning of arms, could provide a solution to the political stalemate.

Reverend Ken Newell said any arms move in Northern Ireland should be witnessed by four clergymen including someone “who has lost a loved one”.

Photographs of decommissioning were desirable but not essential, he said.

Sinn Fein is facing concerted pressure from the British and Irish governments to deliver photographs of IRA disarmament.

The Irish Republican Army last week announced it was willing to scrap its remaining weapons stockpiles – but only if both governments and Protestant leaders dropped their demands for the process to be photographed for the public.

Mr Newell told BBC Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence; “From the unionist side anyhow, one of the clerical witnesses should be a minister who has lost a loved one,” he said.

“(Someone) who is very concerned that this whole thing is done with credibility and will build confidence in the community.

“I think we have got to consider increasing the number of witnesses to four, and put in there someone who has been a victim of the Troubles that we have been through.”

The British-Irish proposals said that decommissioning would be witnessed by two clergymen.

On Sunday, Mr Paisley insisted that he would not move from his demand for photographic evidence of decommissioning.

The DUP leader told Sunday Sequence that he would not compromise on the issue after “previous failed attempts”.

“If we hadn’t three charades of so-called decommissioning, we wouldn’t have to be as strong on this matter,” the North Antrim MP said.

“We must first of all have an independent observer and that independent observer must be free to do what he likes as far as having a notebook, as far having his own inventory, as far as saying what time so many arms were destroyed.

“He must be absolutely free but, of course, that has never been agreed by the IRA.

“Then he must be able to have photographs taken by the (disarmament) commission, not by the IRA, on every step taken for the destruction of those arms – photographs before they were destroyed, photographs when they are destroying and photographs of after they’re destroyed.”

The political institutions in Northern Ireland have been suspended since October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering at the Northern Ireland Office.

The DUP and Sinn Fein became the largest unionist and nationalist parties after assembly elections in November 2003.

However, the two parties have never been able to reach a deal which would allow a power-sharing executive to be formed, and Northern Ireland continues to be governed by direct rule from Westminster.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish premier Bertie Ahern published joint government proposals for power-sharing in Belfast.