Decommissioning is welcomed: CEN 7.03.09 p 6. July 5, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Church of Ireland, Terrorism.trackback
Archbishop Alan Harper of Armagh
The Church of Ireland has welcomed the pledge given by loyalist paramilitaries to lay down their arms. On June 19, the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Alan Harper said he looked forward to “the complete decommissioning” of the loyalist paramilitary arms caches. This would “represent a further and extremely welcome step towards confidence building and the normalisation of society in Northern Ireland.”
Last week the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) announced that it had fully disarmed, while the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) said that it had begun surrendering its weapons to independent disarmament officials.
In a statement released June 27 to the Belfast media, the UFV said its commanders had destroyed its entire arsenal in the presence of Northern Ireland’s disarmament chief, retired Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain, and independent observers from the Unionist and Republican communities.
The UVF statement said it had “completed the process of rendering ordnance totally and irreversibly beyond use.”
The UDA also announced on Saturday that it had begun to disarm. “By carrying out this act we are helping to build a new and better Northern Ireland where conflict is a thing of the past,” the UDA said.
The UVG launched its war against Republicans in Ulster in 1966, and was joined by the UDA in 1971 in its battles against the IRA during the “Troubles”. However, Catholic civilians took the brunt of the group’s assault, with over 1000 people killed until a ceasefire was declared in 1994.
Dr. Harper said he recognized that “on the part of the leadership of the paramilitary groups full decommissioning has been a challenging outcome to deliver; therefore, I commend those within loyalism who have argued consistently for decommissioning over a considerable period. Now full energy and commitment can be devoted to community development and the enhancement of the lives of people in loyalist areas free from the dark shadow of the gun.”
Speaking on Radio Ulster on June 29, the Bishop of Down and Dromore urged Protestants to accept their share of the blame for Northern Ireland’s sectarian violence. Unionists had come to see themselves as victims in violence in the Troubles, Dr. Harold Miller said. Speaking on Sunday Sequence, he said: “We feel as a Protestant community that we were the status quo, we were doing things in an honourable kind of way, and along came terrorists and difficult people who upset the whole apple cart.
“I think there is an inclination to say: ‘these were the baddies and we were the goodies’,” Dr. Miller said, urging Protestants to repent and apologise for the role their community played in the violence.
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