LETTER: Hidden significance of arms decommissioning

From Professor G. L. Huxley

Sir: Speaking at Ballymena on 21 December, the Prime Minister gave his hearers to understand that "decommissioning" - that is, the unilateral handing-in of some or all of their arms by the Provisional IRA - was a part of the Downing Street Declaration. Had Messrs Adams and McGuinness or any other member of Sinn Fein agreed to such decommissioning, there could hardly have been a "peace process" and their own expectations of survival would have been diminished. The emphasis upon decommissioning on the part of British politicians came later than the Declaration, at the behest of Ulster Unionists and of elements in the security forces in Northern Ireland.

Article 10 of the Declaration states:

The British and Irish Governments reiterate that the achievement of peace must involve a permanent end to the use of, or support of, paramilitary violence. They confirm that in these circumstances, democratically mandated parties which establish a commitment to exclusively peaceful methods and which have shown that they abide by the democratic process are free to join in dialogue in due course between the governments and the political parties on the way ahead.

Nothing is said, or implied, here about handing in of weapons.

A survey conducted in November 1994 revealed that there were 130,000 weapons legally held by loyalists. The numbers of illegally held weapons in possession of loyalists is not known. The British Government has yet to explain how loyalist arms are to be decommissioned. Insistence upon decommissioning in advance of political negotiations is therefore not reasonable, and the suggestion that decommissioning was part of the Declaration is deficient in veracity.

Yours faithfully,

George Huxley

Trinity College

Dublin

21 September