<HTML><PRE>Subj:	 RMD980203 Irish news for Tuesday 3 February
Date:	98-02-03 08:53:50 EST
From:	rmlist-reply@irlnet.com (RM_Distribution)
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     IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
     http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
     
     Tuesday, 3 February, 1998


1.   Loyalist group threatens "unholy war"
2.   Assembly discussed at Stormont
3.   Attacks follow Derry demo
4.   SF plan to unseat unionist in Tyrone
5.   Bloody Sunday booklet launched
6.   Seamus Deane delivers Bloody Sunday lecture
7.   Analysis: It has to be No


_________________________________________________________
  
     
>>>> Loyalist group threatens "unholy war"
     
     
     Just days after a statement was issued on behalf of the
     Loyalist Volunteer Force proclaiming a halt to their
     random murder campaign against Catholics, another has
     been issued threatening "unholy war".
     
     In what appears to be a deliberate attempt to rack up
     tension in the north of Ireland, a number of alleged
     threats and counter-threats have been reported in the
     media.  But while the LVF have clearly stated their
     intention of targeting Catholics, no source has been
     found for alleged threats against Protestants.
     
     The LVF, in a coded statement to three Belfast
     newsrooms yesterday threatened to dramatically escalate
     their murder campaign unless an alleged republican
     death threat against the family of Billy Wright, the
     LVF leader assassinated in December, was withdrawn
     within 12 hours.
     
     The LVF warned: "If republicans do not come out and
     deny these claims and state they are totally untrue and
     unfounded the LVF will unleash an unholy war against
     the nationalist community."
     
     But Republicans were dismissive after the INLA, which
     carried out the murder of Wright inside Long Kesh
     prison on 27 December, denied their group had targeted
     the Wright family. Last night there were fears that the
     alleged threat and others were being concocted as a
     possible smoke-screen for prolonged loyalist terror.
     
     Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said his party
     repudiated any threat or any attempt to intimidate
     anyone on the basis of their religion
     
     Mr McLaughlin said the Wright family have the right to
     live free from threats. And he repudiated an alleged
     threat to Derry unionist councillor Jim Davidson, who
     announced he had gone into hiding yesterday. "While
     realising the trauma which this type of intimidation
     can create in a family, I would urge Councillor
     Davidson to stay in the city and continue to serve his
     constituency," he said.
     
     Urging nationalists to be vigilant he said it was a
     time for "neighbour to look after neighbour" and said
     the LVF threat was "an attempt to use any excuse to
     justify their actions".
     
     Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness said the phantom threats
     came from loyalist sources and were an attempt to
     heighten tension and return to a campaign of mass
     intimidation and attacks on vulnerable Catholics.
     
     "Last week's LVF statement that they would no longer
     kill 'ordinary' Catholics was designed to give a false
     sense of relief to those who felt vulnerable.
     
     "As the negotiations move ever closer to the target
     date of May 1 we can expect to see these organisations
     increase their terror campaign to prevent movement on
     constitutional issues and intimidate nationalists into
     accepting less than we are entitled to."
     
     
     *  In another incident, members of the LVF in Larne
     have published posters threatening Britains' governor
     in Ireland Mo Mowlam and other leading loyalists over
     the murder of Wright. Some loyalists have claimed thr
     assassination of Wright in December by the Republican
     INLA was the result of a conspiracy between the INLA,
     the British government and other loyalist groups.
     

_________________________________________________________
    
     
>>>> Assembly discussed at Stormont
     
     
     A Six County assembly advocated by the unionist parties
     and the SDLP was yesterday opposed at peace talks by
     Sinn Fein. But while the Ulster Unionist Party were
     still refusing to to engage directly with republicans,
     UUP negotiators claimed that their delegation had
     largely succeeded in carving out new internal Six
     County structures with the nationalist SDLP.
     
     Nationalists were treated as second class citizens
     under a Stormont assembly which was dominated by
     unionists since the foundation of the Six County
     statelet.  There is broad opposition within the
     nationalist community to the return of such a body.
     
     Sinn Fein has argued that unionist abuse of power would
     continue in view of the experience of nationalist
     councillors in Belfast city council and unionist
     controlled councils, instead advocating structures of
     community, district and regional councils across
     Ireland working with a national Irish parliament.
     
     Sinn Fein said yesterday that unionists had not made
     any points which had convinced the party of the
     benefits of a new assembly. But unionists were talking
     up the possibility of a deal with the SDLP in the
     creation of a new assembly, with SDLP deputy leader
     Seamus Mallon supporting what he claimed would be "a
     vital cog in the settlement wheel".
     
     UUP deputy leader John Taylor said that talks in the
     afternoon had made good progress.  "We went through the
     electoral workings of an Assembly such as the number of
     members, the committee structure and other matters," he
     said.
     
     Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said his party
     remained "totally opposed" to an assembly and accused
     Mallon and Taylor of peddling a partitionist solution.
     Mallon talked about all island arrangements but then
     went on to talk about partitionist arrangements, he
     said.
     
     "We pointed out the need to build bridges towards all
     Ireland democratic structures," Mr McLaughlin said.
     
     Referring to unionist arguments about an assembly, Mr
     McLaughlin said: "Those who hanker for - no matter how
     they camouflage it - for a return to Stormont rule,
     need to take account of the fact that the nationalist
     community never bought into it and will not buy into it
     in the future particularly given the reality of
     demographic developments."
     
     Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, said
     his party was prepared to discuss any proposals but was
     opposed to an assembly on the basis of historic
     analysis.
     
     "One unionist representative said unionists had
     changed. I asked him to explain how, but he was not
     able to tell me," Mr McGuinness said.
     
_________________________________________________________


>>>> Attacks follow Derry demo
     
     
     in three separate incidents, people returning to
     Belfast from the Bloody Sunday Commemoration in Derry
     on Sunday 1 February were attacked that night. Loyalist
     hooligans yet again caused injury and spread fear among
     the nationalists who according to a man on a bus
     returning to Belfast thought, "we had been fired on".
     
     The Ulsterbus carrying 54 people back to Beechmont was
     attacked as it drove through the loyalist village of
     Drumahoe, on the outskirts of Derry. Passengers heard a
     sudden thud as a rock was thrown through a side window.
     Initially many feared it was a shooting attack but the
     rock could easily have been just as deadly, and it was
     only the aluminium casing of a coach seat that saved
     lives or serious injury. Several were injured by flying
     glass and needed hospital treatment.
     
     Also the Citybus carrying people back to Oldpark was
     also attacked. It's back window was smashed by a rock
     as it passed the Altnagelvin Hospital on the outskirts
     of Derry, not far from the mainly loyalist Irish Street
     estate. Everybody on board the bus again initially
     feared a gun attack. But luckily only one person was
     slightly injured.
     
     In another act of hatred two 12-year-old girls were
     knocked down by a hit and run driver as they left the
     Poleglass bus to go to the toilets just past the
     Toomebridge roundabout. The two were hit by a silver
     car which accelerated out from behind the bus as the
     pair crossed the road. One girl was kept at Antrim
     Hospital overnight for observation.
     
     
_________________________________________________________
     
     
>>>> SF plan to unseat unionist in Tyrone
     
     
     As Sinn Feins by-election candidate Terence Brogan
     relaxed after his astounding win at last week's
     by-election in West Tyrone, party activists were
     already reviewing plans to take the seat of unionist
     hardliner William Thompson in the next Westminster
     election.
     
     Election agent Barry McElduff said, everyone was
     delighted with the powerful message the result has sent
     out. With a high turnout of 72.6% and the quota being
     set at 3,856 Terence stormed home with 4,088 votes. His
     nearest competitor, the Ulster Unionist, came in with
     only 1,189 while the SDLPs runner could only muster
     1,095. Brogan in fact polled more than every other
     candidate combined.
     
     Last year the Sinn Fin vote had reached 3,866, while
     the SDLP had managed 1,605, so it was clear that the
     Sinn Fin leaderships position combined with an
     excellent constituency service to the people had swung
     some former SDLP supporters to Sinn Fin, McElduff
     said.
     
     There are a couple of very clear messages which come
     out of this election and which people cannot afford to
     ignore. 53% of the total vote speaks volumes. The
     demand for Irish unity is as strong as ever and the
     voters have once more placed their trust in the
     Republican leadership, both at local and national
     level. Regarding the administration of Omagh District
     Council, the voters have signalled their strong
     opposition to the Unionist/SDLP pact which is about
     denying Sinn Fin access to senior positions in the
     Council. Let them now let democracy take its course and
     stop demonising the largest party on the local
     council, he said.
     
     In a thank you message to the voters, his election
     director Sean Begley and his election team for their
     support Brogan signalled the wider implications of the
     Sinn Fein vote. The vote was really outstanding and
     Gerry Adams has told me that it has given the
     leadership a great boost and puts Sinn Fin well on
     course to take the West Tyrone seat from William
     Thompson at the next election. We look forward to that
     day.
     
     
_________________________________________________________
     
     
>>>> Bloody Sunday booklet launched
     
     The Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign has published a
     booklet which provides a concise guide to events
     immediately prior to the atrocity, the shootings
     themselves and an overview of the aftermath, both in
     terms of the Widgery Inquiry and the subsequent effect
     on the families involved.
     
     The booklet was launched at a press conference held in
     the Bookworm book store in Derry on Friday 30 January
     and is, according to the Campaign, aimed largely at an
     international - including British - audience, who may
     have only a sketchy or somewhat inaccurate idea of what
     happened.
     
     Speaking at the launch, Tony Doherty of the Bloody
     Sunday Justice Campaign spoke of the families'
     successful battle to re-open the inquiry. He said, "the
     families welcome this development and we have also
     expressed our interest in sitting down with the British
     government to go through the detail to clarify exactly
     what is being proposed. The relatives feel grateful and
     relieved that this primary objective has been achieved
     but we pointed out long ago that we felt an apology is
     not enough. When the government is genuinely sorry then
     that is the time to apologise, but they can only do
     that once the truth has been established."
     
     He also acknowledged the role played by the Irish
     government in bringing pressure to bear on the British,
     saying "I think it's true to say that if it were not
     for the Irish government we would very probably be in
     the same position this year as we were last year. Their
     contribution cannot be overstated."
     
     The booklet entitled Bloody Sunday: a miscarriage of
     justice  is available from the Bloody Sunday Justice
     Campaign, 1 Westend Park, Derry BT48 9JF for 3.00
     
_________________________________________________________
     
     
>>>> Seamus Deane delivers Bloody Sunday lecture
     
     The Annual Bloody Sunday lecture which takes place on
     the Friday prior to the commemoration was delivered
     this year by Seamus Deane the poet, author and
     academic. In a fine lecture at the Calgach Centre in
     Derry, Deane's theme was history and memory and the way
     in which the two are controlled by the prevailing
     ideology of any given culture.
     
     He charted the historical trajectory of Irish
     resistance from the 1798 rebellion through the Famine
     up to Bloody Sunday and beyond, placing them in
     relation to one another and in their wider European and
     intellectual context. In the case of Ireland's
     relationship with its colonial occupier, the interface
     of history of memory had, at best, been subverted, or,
     at worst, utterly repressed by the British.
     Historically, any resistance to British rule has always
     been viewed through the prism of anti-Catholicism
     (rather than as being based on the revolutionary,
     egalitarian principles Wolfe Tone originally envisaged)
     and has been successfully sectarianised for the
     political profit of the Unionists and British.
     
     The effect of denying the Irish their own view of
     history had, he said, been so effective that, for
     example, the famine had until very recently been almost
     entirely erased from Irish national consciousness and
     where it was still present had been associated with
     poverty, humiliation and guilt. Deane spoke movingly of
     how for many survivors the famine was only recalled as
     being in some indefinable way self-inflicted or even
     deserved by those who had suffered its effects.
     
     However, he said that the Bloody Sunday Campaign is
     significant in this regard in that it is seeking to
     correct this sectarianised, perverted history, focusing
     instead on the political motives behind the decision to
     attack protesters. Relatives of victims and witnesses
     are using their own memories of that day to re-write
     the given history which, again, has tried to implicate
     victims suggesting that they were culpable for their
     own deaths.
     
     When asked what he thought the outcome of the new
     Bloody Sunday inquiry would be, Deane expressed a
     concern that this would merely be "a thinner coat of
     whitewash" than Widgery. He suggested that the British
     would seek a major sacrificial lamb to offer up,
     preferably someone already dead or discredited in some
     other way and hope that this would suffice to satisfy
     the families.
     
     
_________________________________________________________

     
>>>> Analysis: It has to be No
     
     Referendum wording means end of neutrality
     
     
     Over five years ago the same Irish government in power today
     promised 26-County voters 6 billion in EU (European Union)
     structural funds if they would ratify the Maastricht
     Treaty. Together with their parliamentary opposition they
     campaigned against the arguments of an underfunded and
     often ignored No campaign.
     
     The sole arguments then of the Yes campaign were the
     promise of EU billions and the sanction of possible
     exclusion from EU markets if we failed to ratify. There
     was, we were told, 'no going back'.
     
     Now nearly six years later 26-County voters face
     another complex treaty which will erode more of our
     national sovereignty, pushing us ever closer to an
     abandonment of our neutrality but also diluting further
     the democratic rights of Irish people.
     
     The White Paper which will ratify the Amsterdam Treaty
     was launched this week by Foreign Affairs minister
     David Andrews. He told reporters that the EU "belongs
     to its citizens" and that "its priorities must be the
     priorities of its people. Its functioning must be open
     and effective. Its institutions must deserve and retain
     the confidence of the public".
     
     This sounds good until you actually look at the terms
     of the treaty. For example, it takes another step into
     participation in a military alliance where decisions
     are taken on a majority basis.
     
     There is provision for giving more power to the
     unelected EU presidency and to a new unelected foreign
     policy "supremo". Alongside this there is an acceptance
     by Treaty signatories that after the next wave of EU
     enlargement individual states will lose their right to
     nominate an EU Commissioner. These are just some of the
     more obvious deficiencies.
     
     Worse still the referendum wording to ratify the Treaty
     allows the Dublin Government a carte blanche to take
     further decisions about involvement in military
     alignments and engagements without recourse to the much
     promised but never delivered neutrality referendum.
     
     The Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) held a press
     conference outlining their objections to the Amsterdam
     Treaty straight after the government press conference
     at Iveagh House.
     
     Sinn Fin's Sen Crowe spoke at the conference. He said
     "My party stands firmly for Irish national sovereignty.
     Vital elements of that sovereignty are military
     neutrality and an independent foreign policy. In this
     anniversary of 1798 it is ironic that we are being
     asked by the government to dilute yet again the degree
     of sovereignty that we have in the 26 Counties".
     



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Subject: RMD980203 Irish news for Tuesday 3 February

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