IRA Begins to Destroy Its Arsenal

More than 30 years after taking up arms against British rule, the Irish Republican Army began to destroy its arsenal Tuesday in a groundbreaking move to save the Northern Ireland peace process.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the long-awaited start of disarmament as a milestone that confirms the IRA’s commitment to democratic politics over violent struggle.

“I hope we can be forgiven for indulging in hope. It is in short enough supply,” said Blair, who has divided his time recently between the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Blair said the British government will respond with “a process of normalization” in Northern Ireland. The army is expected to take down observation towers and other military installations along the British province’s border with Ireland, and to pull back some of the 13,500 troops deployed in Northern Ireland.

Ulster Unionist chief David Trimble, who had been poised to lead Protestants out of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government and bring it down over the IRA’s failure to disarm, called the elimination of weapons “extremely important.”

“This is the day we were told would never happen,” Trimble said. “We have always said that actions speak louder than words. Now we have action.”

The action, unprecedented in the bloody history of Irish politics, took place out of the public eye, at a secret location and in an undisclosed manner. Afterward, the international commission set up to monitor disarmament issued a brief statement confirming that the IRA had put arms, ammunitions and explosives “completely beyond use.”

No quantities were mentioned, and Trimble said he accepted the commission’s view that releasing further details wouldn’t advance the peace process. He said the British government had assured him that a substantial amount of materiel was discarded, and he said he will now urge his party to return to the government with the IRA’s political allies, Sinn Fein.

In Washington, President Bush said in a written statement that he welcomed the IRA’s move.

“This is an historic step by the IRA,” he said. “The people of Northern Ireland are now measurably closer to the lasting peace which they richly deserve.”

The largest Protestant paramilitary group said it won’t match the IRA gesture by giving up its guns.

Disarmament is a painful issue for many of the IRA’s Roman Catholic supporters, who view it as surrender to the British government and Protestant unionists. It marked a stunning turnaround for a clandestine group that once vowed never to hand over so much as a bullet.

Sinn Fein signaled Monday that disarmament was imminent when its leaders called on the IRA to give up its guns to salvage the 1998 Good Friday agreement--a statement they were unlikely to have made without prior IRA approval.

The Good Friday accord established the power-sharing government and a framework for ending the sectarian conflict that has left 3,600 dead and more than 30,000 wounded. It called for British demilitarization, reform of the overwhelmingly Protestant police force, the disarmament of paramilitary groups and the establishment of closer ties with the Irish Republic.

Northern Ireland’s Protestant majority is largely unionist, or in favor of remaining a part of Britain. Most of the Catholic minority wants to see Northern Ireland joined with the Irish Republic, where Catholics are predominant. Under the Good Friday accord, the province will remain British unless a majority of the population decides it should break away.

The IRA issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying it is still committed to the goal of a united Ireland. It blamed unionists for using the arms issue to try to destroy the peace process--even though the IRA has honored a cease-fire since 1997--and said it had a responsibility to try to save it.

“Our motivation is clear. This unprecedented move is to save the peace process and to persuade others of our genuine intentions,” the statement said.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams called the announcement “a huge leap forward” and said it should spur on the peace process.

“At a time when there is international calamity in the world, this shows that matters can be resolved through politics,” Adams said.

The IRA had come under intense pressure to disarm since the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The U.S., British and Irish governments told the group that the killings of more than 5,200 people had eliminated public tolerance for armed groups.

Even before that, doubt was cast over Sinn Fein and the IRA’s commitment to peace when several of their militants were arrested in Colombia in August and charged with helping leftist guerrillas there.

The IRA had a huge arsenal hidden in secret bunkers throughout the Irish countryside, according to British and Irish police. The stash was estimated to have included up to 1,000 assault rifles, 60 handguns, 40 RPG-7 rocket launchers, 20 machine guns, a SAM-7 surface-to-air missile, 600 bomb detonators and 2 to 3 tons of Semtex plastic explosives.

In May 2000, the IRA pledged to put its weapons “beyond use” and agreed to let international observers inspect some of its bunkers periodically to verify that the weapons remained in storage unused.

In August, the group also agreed on a formula for getting rid of the guns with the independent disarmament commission headed by Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain. But by then, unionists had grown impatient with the IRA’s foot-dragging--and suspicious of its desire to hold on to guns while engaged in politics. The unionists feared that the IRA would return to violence if it failed to get what it wanted by peaceful means, and so began to impose deadlines that caused the IRA to dig in even further.

Trimble resigned in July as first minister of Northern Ireland, and last week his party pulled out of the government altogether. The party’s resignation, along with that of the hard-line Democratic Unionist Party, was to become effective Thursday at midnight, at which time Britain would have resumed direct rule and the power-sharing experiment most likely would have come to an end.

Under the Good Friday agreement, the provincial government cannot function without both Protestants and Catholics. In that hostile environment, it was unlikely that pro-accord Protestants could have garnered enough votes to return to government.

But the IRA began to disarm--possibly by cementing over the bunkers--and Trimble said he is confident the weapons that had been decommissioned can never be used again. He said he is also confident that the IRA will continue to meet with the disarmament commission.

Meanwhile, the Ulster Defense Assn., the largest pro-British paramilitary group, told Britain’s Press Assn. that “decommissioning is not in the cards” for the group. It said that even if the IRA sealed off its bunkers, renegade republicans still have weapons and could attack Protestants.

“Once the IRA take this step, what’s going to happen to their membership?” the UDA source said. “Is a percentage going to go over to the dissidents?”

The British government declared this month that the UDA and other Protestant paramilitary groups had broken their cease-fire by rioting against police and attacking Catholics.

Blair urged the Protestant paramilitary groups to give up their guns.

“They can and they must now move on this issue,” Blair said.

He noted that for many Protestants and Catholics living in areas of Belfast still torn by conflict, “the peace process seems hollow. But for the majority of people in Northern Ireland today, life is better.”

“Yes, the peace process is not perfect. But it is a damned sight better than the alternative, which is no process at all. We’re a long way from the end of our journey, but a significant milestone has been passed.”

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Times staff writer James Gerstenzang in Washington contributed to this report.