Issue 168, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (April, 2001)

              uimh 168 aibrean — april 2001 http://saoirse.rr.nu 60p(usa$l)1 the year of the hunger striker prisoner candidate for west belfast see page 3 inside * * * * michael traynor's account of the 1940 hunger strike for political status in dublin see page 8/9 tt j ' terms secret until after elections in cold stora the signs are there that the pro-stormont agreement parties and london and dublin have put together a package of measures at the hillsborough castle meeting on march 8 last to try to revive their ailing pact three years after it was signed both tony blair and bertie ahern have maintained silence on the terms of the deal hoping to get the pro agreement parties and david trimble in particular through the upcoming british general election it appears that a choreographed series of events were planned to advance the surrender of arms by the provisionals three statements in a week by the provisionals military organisation culminated in a meeting with general de chastelain's surrender of arms body the general said there would be further meetings then the british and unionists responded with a series of measures including no prosecution of eight provisional escapees extended immunity for those involved in the surrender of arms trimble lifted the embargo on uup ministers attending cross border bodies dublin arrested and charged a leading provisional dissident under the latest amendments to the draconian offences against the state act the sequence could continue with another report from de chastelain following further meetings with the provisionals trimble could then lift his own ban on provo ministers attending cross border meetings the timing of the british general election for the beginning of june in the run up to drumcree could pose difficulties for trimble as he faces a strong challenge from the dup the sdlp seem poised to accept the reformed ruc in june and the provisionals will accept it some time after that essentially because they have nowhere else to go no plan b trimble's response to the dup challenge was evidenced by the uup tabloid newspaper supplement published with the belfast telegraph newspaper on march 30 in a section entitled the republican movement — where are they now the uup point out that the provisional slogans no return to stormont , no unionist veto and keep articles 2 & 3 have all disappeared they sit in stormont under the union british flag they have conceded permanent unionist veto in the assembly and over north-south co operation they have allowed the inspection of a number of arms dumps the uup newspaper crows the paper says the provisionals know they have to surrender arms to be allowed attend cross-border bodies again a photograph of a provisional wall poster from a few years ago headed no return to stormont rule no internal settlement is reproduced to hammer home the point of the political surrender of the former republicans republican sinn fein has consistently maintained that the stormont agreement is based on mutually contradictory objectives and can only work with the political collapse of one side or the other the experience so far is that it is the wear an • the constitutional parties have collapsed politically the provisionals and the sdlp sit in stormont under the union jack flag pictured on march 1 7 last constitutional nationalist side that has collapsed further evidence of that is the nauseating claims by the provisionals that the 1981 hunger strikers died for their the provisionals political advance the hunger strikers sought prisoner-of-war status in an armed conflict with british occupation forces in the final analysis this latest hillsborough deal will not work because it is based on the unionist veto and continuing british imperial rule which are a certain recipe for chronic instability and cannot deliver a just and lasting peace lily honour ireland's dead easter lilies now available 25.00 per 1 000 from peig king 29 all saint's park raheny dublin 5