2000/01 and 2000/02, The Sovereign Nation (January/February, 2000)

              publication of the 32 county sovereignty movement there is only one enemy a statement released by oglaigh na heireann on friday 21st of january was met with hostility by british ml a gerry kelly the british government and pro-british media outlets the statement called for unity among republicans and reiterated the right of the irish people to the ownership of ireland and to the unfettered control of irish destinies to be sovereign and indefeasible " responding to mr kelly's comments bernadette mckevitt vice-chairperson of the 32 county sovereignty movement said the continuing deception of grassroots republicans by their leaders to the reality of the stormont deal is deeply disturbing and begs questioning seeking unity among republicans around the issue of sovereignty should pose no threat to any one other than the british and their agents there is only one enemy and republicans should not loose sight of that the following is the full text of a state ment released by oglaigh na heireann courtesy of the irish news as we stand on the threshold of the 2 1st entury it is with sadness and great pride that we look hack over the previous centu ry and note the tremendous sacrifices made by irishmen women and children in pursuance of national independence and sovereignty in every generation the irish people have rejected and challenged britain's claim to interfere in ireland's affairs in 1916 irish republicans proclaimed the irish republic and claimed the allegiance of every irishman and irish woman the people of ireland in the lateral election of december 1918 seized the first occasion to declare by overwhelming majority its firm allegiance to the irish republic the elect ed national parliament ratified the estab lishment of the irish republic pledging the irish people to make the declaration of independence effective by every means at their commatul britain's rejection and continual usurpa tion of irish sovereignty has caused bloody war division and continued sorrow dmong the irish people ever since once again britain has refused to accept the will of the irish people and has chosen deception manipulation and coercion to engineer a fraudulent pact to maintain its presence in ireland once again oglaigh na heireann declares the right of the irish people to the owner ship of ireland and to the unfettered con trol of irish destinies to be sovereign and indefeasible we call on volunteers loyal to the irish republic to unite to uphold the republic and establish a permanent national parliament representative of all the people your allegiance is to the republic not to an elite clique or corrupt treacherous administrations once again oglaigh na heireann declares the right of the irish people to the ownership of ireland and to the unfettered control of irish destinies to he sovereign and indefeasible it would he remiss o oglaigh na heireann io abdicate our responsibility for the many innocent rev thai have been lost and injuries occurred as a consequence oj the ongoing struggle for freedom in the past century it is incumbent on all volunteers to ensure the safety of non combatants at all limes but for the british involvement in ireland these tragedies could have been avoided the differences between our peoples are for the irish people alone to settle with out any external interfer ence peace justice and equality can only come about as a result of the end ing of british rule in ireland to those who have chosen to put self-interest above that of the irish nation we treat you with contempt to the volunteers of oglaigh na heireann and particularly those volunteers incan cr ated in irish and foreign gaols we salute your courage discipline and determination in the continuing struggle for freedom to the families and comrades of our fallen volunteers we share your grief and pledge to redouble our efforts to secure ireland's freedom for which they bravely gave their lives to our supporters at home and abroad your continual support is greatly appreci ated ireland unfree shall never be at peace trimble deadline on decommissioning decommissioning is now being confidently predicted by the british government and unionists this follows the mitchell renegotiations which insured after a year's delay that the unionist dom inated stormont institutions would begin operation sinn fein is now pursuing an electoral strategy which will i in 	 in at least must deliver on provo decommissioning or else see its stormont deal strate gy come to naught these actions also raised ques tions within the republican grassroots who were cate gorically being told both in ireland and the united states that decommission ing would not happen allow the party in increase its patronage and elected i1 ts noi th and south while being co opted and integrat ed into the partitionist estab lishment resignation i ollowiiuj 1 1 1 o mitchell rene gotiations the pressure from the british dublin and even the united states shift ed to decommissioning the firsl step took place at an ulster unionist council meeting which voted by 58 to 42 to give a condi tional assent to the mitchell formula trimble himself and his ulster unionist min isters were required to sub mit post-dated letters of res kjikitiiin hum the stormont executive niece lelteis meant thai unless the provo's decom missioned before the sched uled early february dale the uup would resign effective ly closing down the stormont deal this move was also coupled with a public assertion by john taylor that stormont would be folded up in the event of a provo default on decom missioning according to written assurances by british secretary peter mandelson the vote was lauded by both mandleson and dublin gov ernment head bertie ahern and even praised by american president bill clinton these actions placed sinn fein in a position where h david tim m i would trimble and the uup have risked their political future unless in possession ol private assurances and guarantees from sinn fein on decommissioning de chastelain the provo's then appointed a formal representative to the decommissioning body headed by general john de chastolam in a leport to the british and dublin govern ments tie chastelain pre dicted thai decommission ing will occur this report was welcomed by ahem who called the leport deal evidence that decommissioning was pro ceeding while tony blair was very pleased with tie chastelain's assessment a series of reports and opin ion pieces began to appear in british and irish newspa pers hyping various scenar ios for decommissioning to occur before the trimbe deadline these reports which clearly seem to be inspired by government sources suggested that decommissioning would not be quantified publicly sinn fein could then claim that a minimal symbolic surrender of weapons had occurred while the uup could release different descriptions to party loyalists each side could then present opposing claims to their respective constituencies clinton a furthei source ol pressure was axpected to emerge directly hum presideni clinton clinton wants the stormoni deal to survive as a par of his presidential legacy clinton wishes to visit ireland again in a tri umphant atmosphere a sinn fein delegation includ ing gerry adams and martin me guinness travelled to the united states in late january it was expected that the cknton administra tion would wield its leverage to push for decommission ing within the timetable mitchell the mitchell renegotiations concluded in mid-november with a description of chore ographed or stage man aged being frequently utilised by journalists indeed the most significant aspect iji the talks appears to be private agreements on such issues as sinn fein in westminster the patten commission garvaghy road etc the stormont executive was established with martin me guinness as minister for education while bairbre de brun was allocat ed health ministry at a time of projected cutbacks it is dearly an executive headed by trimble with a guaranteed loyalist majority all cross-border bodies will be talking shops subject to the veto of the loyalist majority at stormont the unionists were also given institutionalised links with other british assemblies in a form intended to cement the north's place within the so called united kingdom the dublin government was compelled to surrender the twenty-six county constitu tional recognition of irish de jure sovereignty over the north as part of the formal steps of acceptance of british rule objectives the competing goals oi tha various parties to the stormont deal are becom ing clearer and clearer sinn fein was given positions withm the british establish ment it will also allocate and dispense patronage through community pro grams funded by the british the party will be provided with offices at westminster it may expect to win addi tional seats at lemster house perhaps even enter ing government a coalition partner with fianna fail although evidence from the recent dublin south central by-election where sinn feins vote dropped suggests this may be wishful thinking the british hope that such a strategy will lead to sinn fein displacing the sdlp but only by becoming the nationalist party ol the british establishment the examples of parties like fianna fail or claim na poblacta which became co opted and tamed by being accorded small stakes with in partition establishments are obvious already the british can claim that even their former sinn fein opponents have accept ed and taken up place within a british administration the british now anticipate that in order to do business within the trimble led stormont or lemster house sinn fein will further move away from republican principle aioirisi need app/y page 2 opinion section pages 4 & 5 editor/a page 6 ^ protestat irish embassy london page 7 i