IRA move condemned by unionists

David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party had rejected the IRA's offer

DUBLIN, Ireland -- The Irish Republican Army's decision to withdraw its offer to put its weapons "beyond use" has been condemned by Northern Ireland's unionist parties.

The IRA decision came in an official statement released to the Irish media in Dublin on Tuesday morning.

It had previously offered to decommission its arms -- a main pillar of the Good Friday Agreement -- but the plan was rejected by David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) because it did not specify a timetable.

Following Tuesday's announcement, UUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said it proved that the IRA's offer had been a tactical ploy to wrong-foot unionists.

"The fact that they have so hastily withdrawn the offer indicates no intention, at this stage, to make serious movement on decommissioning," Donaldson told the UK Press Association.

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"Taken together with the arrests of three senior IRA members in Colombia, it indicates to us that the IRA is as wedded to the theology of revolutionary terrorism, having not embarked upon the transition to peace and democracy."

Stormont UUP minister Michael McGimpsey described the withdrawal of the IRA's proposal for decommissioning as "short term manoeuvring" by republicans.

"The Sinn Fein/IRA leadership knows that the withdrawal of its proposal amounts to nothing more than a cynical publicity stunt.

"Veterans of this process know that once an agreement like this is made, it is always on the negotiating table."

Democratic Unionist Party Assembly member Ian Paisley Jr. said the statement had been predictable and it was time to punish rather than reward the IRA.

"The government will now bend over backwards to appease the IRA with the intention of restoring this offer.

"In the meantime numerous concessions will have to paid over to the IRA just to get back to this position," he said.

"How many times will the wheels fall off this so-called peace process before the participants recognise that it is going nowhere?"

Peter Robinson, the DUP deputy leader, said Tony Blair's government must now withdraw any concessions it had offered in policing and demilitarisation.

"The only purpose of the IRA's activity is to extract concessions from the government. That's why they made a tactical cessation of violence.

"They have no intention of completing verifiable decommissioning. It is simply a case of using words to gain more from the government.

"Tony Blair must now take everything off the table that has been offered to the IRA."

The UK's Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Andrew MacKay said the statement called into question republican's commitment to peace.

"Both the decommissioning of illegal terrorist weapons and a commitment `to exclusively democratic and peaceful means' are key obligations under the Belfast Agreement," he told PA.

"Yet three-and-a-half years on, not one gun or one ounce of Semtex has been put beyond use by any of the organisations whose political representatives signed up to the Agreement.

"Today's withdrawal by the IRA of its statement last week, in addition to the arrests of three IRA suspects yesterday in Colombia, casts serious doubt on their commitment to both.

"Last week's statement by the IRA was welcome as far as it went, but it did not go far enough.

"Today's events have vindicated Conservative and Ulster Unionist caution in response to it."

Lembit Opik, Liberal Democrat Northern Ireland spokesman, blamed "hardline" Ulster Unionists for the statement.

"David Trimble has done as much as anyone could to bring his party towards a settlement," he said.

"The finger of criticism points to hardline Ulster Unionists who have prevented Mr Trimble from making appropriate gestures towards the IRA proposals.

"Of course there is an element of good faith and risk, but the hardliners have not come up with a single better way to normalise the province.

"The onus is now on them to suggest what should happen next."

Sinn Fein, the republican political party, offered no immediate reaction to the IRA statement.

But Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who is about to leave for a speaking tour of South American countries, foreshadowed the IRA move during a rally of IRA supporters on Sunday.

Speaking in Catholic west Belfast, he told the crowd that the IRA would not respond to pressure from Britain or the Ulster Unionists.

"Is anyone here going to allow this to happen?" he asked. "No!" came the reply from the crowd.