Provos aiding rogue republicans
Commission outlines a litany of violence
Thursday November 05 2009
FORMER Provisional IRA activists are playing a signi- ficant role in the surge in dissident republican violence in the North since the start of the year.
That is the main finding of the International Monitoring Commission in its latest report on paramilitary groups operating in the North.
The report indicates that the dissident terrorists are posing the biggest security threat in the area since the crackdown on the renegades in the wake of the Omagh bomb blast in 1998.
The commission confirmed that the personnel strengths of the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA have grown as a result of a persistent recruitment campaign, but the majority of their new members are inexperienced young men.
However, there are indications that former republican terrorists have been providing their services as individuals to the dissidents and "even, if occasional, can significantly add to the threat".
The commission has also found evidence of ad hoc tactical co-operation between members of the main dissident groups although there is no effective strategic collaboration between their leaderships.
It says this form of co-operation involves personal and social networks rather than the organisation themselves and has been significant in the March-to-August period under review.
Admitting the picture was not totally clear, the report says there are emerging signs of "fluidity" in the relationship between the groups.
The commission accepts that only a few former provisionals are giving help to the dissidents and says is not surprising following the dissolution of IRA structures.
During the six-month period members of the Real IRA, with the help of others, murdered British army sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar at Massereene barracks in Antrim on March 7, while two days later the Continuity IRA shot dead PSNI member Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
Dissident republicans were responsible for 20 shooting casualties between March and August -- the second highest recorded in that category since August 2003.
Unrepentant
In contrast, the commission found that loyalist paramilitary groups did not shoot anybody, but they did claim 38 assault victims.
The commission describes the overall level of dissident republican violence as markedly higher than any other review period since it began work in late 2003.
"A number of the incidents for which dissidents were responsible demonstrated a capability to plan and organise, which adds to the threat they present.
"They pose a major challenge to the law enforcement and other agencies on both sides of the border," the commission adds.
"Had it not been for the work of all these agencies north and south, more lives would have been lost," it says.
Apart from the shooting of PC Carroll, the Continuity IRA was also responsible for two explosive devices planted in Armagh, ammunition and bomb making discovered in Belfast, assaults and violent intimidation.
It was also blamed for recent spates of armed robberies, tiger kidnappings, smuggling, extortion and fuel laundering.
The Real IRA, operating in two separate factions, was responsible for two military murders and planting an improvised explosive device in Armagh and Belfast.
It was also behind rioting in the Ardoyne area of Belfast, a device in a school in Armagh in July and a 460lb bomb at Forkhill, designed to blow up a PSNI patrol.
Last night, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern and Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward both welcomed the commission's comments on groups that were moving away from paramilitarism.
But Mr Ahern said the report showed there was a small hardcore of unrepentant criminals, who had no support from the Irish people, north or south, but had been indulging in murder, armed robbery and kidnapping.
- Tom Brady Security Editor
Irish Independent
