Seized weapons probed after loyalists arrested
Seized weapons were being examined today after eight loyalists were arrested by police near Belfast.
As new Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy began a series of inter-party talks in a bid to rescue the peace process, the men were being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Security sources have linked the arrests to a continuing crackdown on loyalist paramilitary activity.
The swoop took place last night on the Ballymiscaw Road at Craigantlet, Co Down, after officers noticed a vehicle acting suspiciously.
It came just hours after the IRA announced it was breaking off contact with General John de Chastelain’s international decommissioning body.
The Provisionals claimed they had been forced into the move because the British government has failed to keep promises it made in the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Murphy – who is also meeting the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party – is certain to question Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness about the IRA move during talks at Castle Buildings, Stormont.
With the power-sharing government in Belfast on ice because of alleged republican spying, the political situation has been plunged into a deep crisis.
But the Secretary of State is hoping talks with all sides will lead to a review of the Agreement and restore devolution, following its suspension earlier this month.
In a setback for the peace process, the IRA announced last night that it had decided to stop its engagement with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD).
Insisting it remained committed to the search for a just and lasting peace, the Provisional IRA said: “The onus is on the British government and others to create confidence in this process.
“They can do this by honouring their obligations.”
The IRA statement was greeted with dismay in Dublin, Belfast and London.
Ulster unionist leader David Trimble claimed the statement meant that the IRA was in breach of its obligation to disarm under the Agreement.
He claimed it vindicated his party’s stance of refusing to share power with Sinn Fein until republicans addressed paramilitarism.
It is the second time in the process that the IRA has withdrawn its representative involved in talks with the de Chastelain Commission.
It last pulled out of contacts when the former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson suspended devolution in February 2000.
Power-sharing was restored in May 2000 after the IRA agreed to independent inspections of its arms dumps and resume contact with the IICD.
