     IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
     Wednesday, 21 January, 1998
     
     
1.   IRA blames British for crisis
2.   Killing process continues
3.   Bloody Sunday statement 'soon'
4.   Sinn Fein official harassed
5.   Situation 'can be rectified' - Sinn Fein
6.   Analysis: No place for northern nationalists
7.   Campaign for Bloody Sunday inquiry

         
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>>>> IRA blames British for crisis
     
     
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     In a statement issued to news organisations this
     evening, the IRA leadership accuses the British
     government of creating a crisis in the talks while
     stalling on confidence-building measures and
     remilitarising.in the north of Ireland.  The full
     statement follows.
     ------------------------------------------------------
     
     
     The  leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann do not regard
     the 'Propositions on Heads of Agreement' document as a
     basis for a lasting peace settlement.  It is a
     pro-Unionist document and has created a crisis in the
     peace process.
     
     We have pointed out repeatedly in the past that
     meaningful negotiations are crucial to the resolution
     of the conflict.  We have affirmed our willingness to
     facilitate such negotiations.  We have matched this
     commitment with deeds in announcing and maintaining a
     cessation of military operations since 20 July last
     year.
     
     The British Government have, as yet, refused to face up
     to their responsibilities in this regard.  They have
     continued with the remilitarisation policy of their
     predecessors in government.  They have stalled on the
     implementation of any serious or meaningful
     confidence-building measures.
     
     Most significantly of all,  in attempting to impose the
     'Heads of Agreement' document on the talks process yet
     another British Prime Minister has succumbed to the
     Orange Card.  This was against a background of the
     Unionist leadership refusing to meaningfully engage in
     the talks process and the continuing assassinations by
     loyalist death squads.  Instead of facing up to this
     pressure the British government has again yielded to
     it.
     
     The responsibility for undoing the damage done to the
     prospects for a just and lasting peace settlement rests
     squarely with the British government. 
     

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>>>> Killing process continues
     
     
     Another Catholic man has been murdered this evening,
     the third in three days to be shot by loyalist death
     squads.
     
     Ben Hughes, a married man with three children, worked
     in the P&E car parts shop in Utility Street, off the
     Donegall Road in a loyalist part of South Belfast.
     According to reports, Ben was getting into his car
     to drive to his home in the Suffolk Estate in west 
     Belfast at the end of the working day when he was
     approached by a lone gunman. The gunman fired five
     times, hitting him in the head and chest before
     running away.  Ben died almost immediately.
     
     No organisation has yet claimed responsibility for this
     evening's murder, nor the killing of Catholic taxi
     driver Larry Brennan nearby on Monday evening, but the
     UDA (Ulster Defence Association) are understood to have
     carried out both killings. 
     
     The loyalist terror campaign has dramatically
     intensified in recent weeks.  The apparent goal of the
     killings is to weaken nationalist aspirations as the
     ongoing talks process enters its most critical phase.
     Seven Catholics have died in the past seven weeks as
     the Belfast-based UDA (Ulster Defence Association) has
     joined with the mostly rural Loyalist Volunteer Force
     in a campaign of sectarian slaughter.  At the same time
     the INLA, a small Republican paramilitary group opposed
     to the peace process, has killed a leading member of
     both the LVF and the UDA in retaliatory attacks.
     
     
     FUNERAL
     
     
     One of seven boys, Fergal was the third eldest child in
     a family of nine. Lack of employment, and sectarian
     discrimination in the Six Counties led Fergal to seek
     work in the USA.  For six months he worked as a
     labourer with a construction company in Boston. Less
     than two weeks ago Fergal returned to Maghera. When he
     secured a job locally, his family were happy he would
     be staying home.
     
     Described as "a sporty kind of fella", Fergal was a
     member of the local GAA Gaelic sports club.   He was
     wearing a GAA jersey on Saturday evening when he and
     his friends were socialising at a local bar.
     
     Shortly after 1am, Fergal left 'Maggies' with a number
     of other people.  Fergal left the group, saying he was
     "going for a Chinese" at the nearby takeaway before
     making his way home. In the darkness of a narrow
     alleyway it is believed he was confronted by three men.
     Three loyalist killers were seen leaving the area by
     local people. After hearing a gunshot, one witness
     describes passing two men "with their faces painted
     orange" as he made his way along Tircane Road to
     Kelly's newsagents. After a second shot, a third man
     appeared from behind the youth club, crossing the
     Chapel grounds towards the Glen Road. The killers
     seemed in no hurry to make their getaway.
     
     
     RUC DID NOTHING
     
     According to local people, the RUC received a report of
     two gun shots in the upper part of the town at around
     1.30am. The RUC did nothing. Newspaper reports claim at
     3am, the loyalist killers telephoned the RUC saying a
     man had been shot dead. The RUC still did nothing. The
     body of 28-year-old Catholic victim Fergal McCusker was
     discovered at the back of Fairhill Youth Club by a
     caretaker from the nearby St. Mary's Chapel.
     
     At 9am, almost eight hours after initial reports of a
     shooting, the RUC moved in and cordoned off the area.
     Within a stone's throw from the murder scene stands a
     RUC barracks, but seemingly the RUC heard nothing. A
     surveillance camera, mounted high on a scaffolding
     tower above the barracks overlooks the murder scene,
     but apparently the RUC saw nothing.  At 1pm, twelve
     hours after Fergal's death, the RUC informed the
     McCusker family their son had been killed. The lack of
     urgency displayed by the RUC after the murder of Fergal
     McClsker, stood in stark contrast to heightened crown
     force activity in the run up to the killing. Local
     people have reported intense RUC and British army
     activity for two weeks prior to the shooting. "DMSU
     were driving up and down the road for days," says one
     resident, "on Friday the town was crawling with British
     soldiers". On Saturday night the streets were empty. In
     the early hours of Sunday morning, when the loyalist
     killers struck, the RUC were nowhere to be seen.
     
     This morning, before the funeral, Christine McCusker
     sat besides the open coffin of her dead son in a small
     back bedroom of the family's home in the quiet Derry
     town of Maghera.  There were no words to describe her
     loss.
     
     
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>>>> Bloody Sunday statement 'soon'
     
     
     
     British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to say in
     parliament today whether his government was planning to
     agree to an independent inquiry into the 1972 Bloody
     Sunday massacre, when 14 unarmed civilians were killed
     by British troops at a civil rights demonstration in
     Derry.
     
     Mr Blair told MPs at question time
     that the British government had a duty to address the
     "pain and distress" that still existed because of the
     killings.  He claimed his government was
     "investigating carefully" material submitted on the
     massacre several months ago by the Irish government and
     said he hoped to make a statement "soon".
     
     Relatives of the victims of the Bloody Sunday shootings
     have campaigned for years to have a proper
     investigation into the killings after a 1974 whitewash
     exonerated all military and government officials of
     blame for the massacre.
     
     The Irish government last year presented Britain with a
     dossier of new evidence on the shootings and backed calls for
     a public inquiry.   An international campaign to
     demand justice for the victims has built year on year
     with major commemorations planned in London, Glasgow,
     across the U.S. and in Derry itself.
     
     
     TELEVISION BATTLEGROUND
     
     As the 26th anniversary -- on 30 January -- approaches, an
     epic battle involving various sections of the British
     establishment hotted up this week.
     
     The 'Nuremberg Factor' was evident on Monday night's
     Channel 4 News interview featuring Lt. Col. Derek
     Wilford and Edward Heath. They were asked the simple
     but threatening question: who was really responsible
     for the deaths on Bloody Sunday?   Wilford, Commander
     of the Parartroop regiment in Derry on the day that 14
     unarmed civil rights demonstrators were killed, said he
     thought the Prime Minister of the day should be the one
     discussing that question. Pan cameras to Edward Heath,
     who pointed the fiinger right back to Wilford, and
     whined "I am amazed that soldiers should try to pass on
     the blame to politicians."
     
     During the interview,  Wilford defended the actions of
     the Paras that day, insisting that they had "behaved
     magnificently", and had "nothing to apologise for." He
     claimed "My soliders behaved according to the very best
     standards of keeping the peace."   Edward Heath
     attempted to shift responsibility further afield,
     recollecting that Taoiseach Jack Lynch had urged the
     British government to "stop these marches", and said he
     'could not understand why they should complain
     afterwards'.  Confronted with compelling fresh
     evidence, Wilford accepted for the first time the
     possibility that firing from other British army
     regiments could have led the Paras to believe they were
      coming under fire from the IRA. In a rare moment of
     candour, Wilford said "I do accept that it is a
     possibility - an awesome possibility - and that's a
     dreadful thing to have to live with."
     
     The plot has thickened almost daily now as elements of
     the British establishment seek to avoiding the hot
     potato of responsibility for Bloody Sunday. 'New
     Labour' is finding Bloody Sunday much more complex than
     Mo Mowlam first reckoned. As a new Direct Ruler,
     shortly after the Irish government handed over its
     dossier of fresh evidence about Bloody Sunday in June,
     Mowlam indicated that she would 'do all in her power'
     to bring about a speedy response to the dossier. In
     December, Mowlam put the British government under the
     further pressure of a January '98 deadline when she
     said that she would 'not like to see another aniversary
     go by without a response.'
     
     Today, former and current elements in the British
     establishment are deeply and publicly at odds with each
     other. This is more fundamental than simply a change
     from Tory to new Labour government.  Bloody Sunday
     threatens the military establishment and the imperial
     psyche itself.
     
     Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign spokesperson Tony
     Doherty emphasised the significance of Monday night's
     Channel 4 programme. "With such key British
     establishment figures attacking and counterattacking
     each otherin the face of fresh evidence, nobody but
     nobody now believes the British government's version of
     events. The programme resulted from 12-14 months of
     good hard investigative journalism.  Channel 4
     journalists deserve praise for their work: they are
     dealing with Ireland, a very difficult question for the
     British media to tackle and they are doing it very
     fairly."
     
     Doherty pointed out that the past year has seen major
     developments for the Bloody Sunday justice  campaign. 
     Don Mullan's book 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday' revived
     people's sense of outrage by using eyewitness
     descriptions of events that day. The formation and
     launch of the Bloody Sunday Trust reflected this
     commitment to justice in the community. At an
     international level, in April Michael Posner and the
     U.S. delegation from the National Lawyers group,
     including Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, visited Derry and put
     their weight behind the campaign. The Irish government
     submitting its dossier for international judgement has
     been the most important development yet.
     
     
     'APPALLING VISTA'
     
     Said Doherty:	"The Irish government's decision to
     bring their Bloody Sunday dossier before the world
     takes the campaign onto an entirely different plane.
     Bloody Sunday is no longer a group of relatives
     campaigning in Derry, scoring the odd victory against
     media censorship. The Irish government is acting on its
     OWN behalf, not ours, in indicting the British
     Government over their actions on Bloody Sunday, the
     Widgery Tribunal, and its actions for nearly 26 years
     in blocking all attempts to reveal the cover-up.
     
     "The British government's paralysis over Bloody Sunday
     follows the pattern of the Birmingham Six case. Long
     torturous years delayed the release of these innocent
     men, despite it being transparently clear to the world
     that this was the grossest miscarriage of justice.
     Bloody Sunday is another "appalling vista"  the British
     establishment must deny, but on an even more profound
     level.
     
     "The British Army and the British government's role in
     the North has never been seriously challenged for any
     of its atrocities in 29 years of the current conflict.
     The Paratroops, as the premier regiment of the British
     Army, to this day still prides itself on its role in
     Derry on Bloody Sunday.  Their most senior officers on
     that day, including Para Commander Lt Col Derek Wilford
     and General Ford, Commander of British Land Forces,
     were decorated within months by the Queen for
     "exemplary service."
     
     "Taking action on Bloody Sunday challenges Britain's
     role in Ireland.  The British are compelled to give a
     formal reply to the Irish government's dossier of fresh
     evidence. And everybody's patience is wearing a bit
     thin," concluded Doherty.
     
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>>>> Sinn Fein official harassed
     
     Sinn Fein's press supremo Richard McAuley was singled
     and detained by the RUC for 20 minutes as his car was
     searched for 'munitions' on Tuesday morning in the Glen
     Road, West Belfast.  Sinn Fein Councillor Alex Maskey
     has called this "a clear case of harassment" coming on
     top of last week's RUC interference with the Sinn Fein
     talks delegation on Divis Street as it traveled to
     Stormont. Last year Sinn Fein's Francie Malloy was
     detained for no reason at Heathrow and talks delegate
     Siobhan O'Hanlon was detained while confidential papers
     relating to the talks were illegally read by the RUC.
     
     Mr Maskey has also questioned the intention behind
     "road blocks set up on the fringes of nationalist areas
     stopping vehicles leaving the area but not those
     entering it." Mr Maskey said, "At a time when there is
     a concerted campaign of murder and intimidation against
     the nationalist people, the RUC and British Army are
     intent on using this situation as a cover for increased
     harassment against nationalists."
     

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>>>> Talks crisis 'can be rectified' - Sinn Fein
     
     
     In a submission presented to the peace talks at
     Stormont Castle in Belfast today, Sinn Fein has
     stressed that the current grave "situation can be
     rectified if realities are accepted and a level playing
     field provided in the negotiations".
     
     The talks suffered a heavy blow last week after a
     strongly pro-unionist agenda for the talks was tabled
     by the British and Irish governments.
     
     The Sinn Fein document submitted today said the status
     quo is not an option and there can be no internal
     settlement, but confirms that the party will stay at
     talks despite the current crisis inside and outside
     Stormont. Sinn Fein states that it has a significant
     mandate to negotiate and will fulfill that mandate, in
     a restatement of the party's positive attitude to the
     talks.
     
     The document outlined five broad issues which need to
     be addressed to achieve a lasting peace settlement in
     the Six Counties.
     
     The paper, submitted to all three strands of the talks,
     calls for parity across and between the three strands
     of the negiotations. The five broad issues identified
     by the paper are: demilitarisation - including prisoner
     releases and an end to the security force presence; an
     equality agenda - encompassing rights, safeguards and
     justice issues; sovereignty issues; the constitutional
     status of the province; and new arrangements arising
     from the resolution of the sovereignty issues.
     
     Sinn Fein's preferred new arrangement is a unitary
     Ireland with a central government and a system of
     regional councils. The status quo is not an option, the
     paper states: there can be no internal settlement and
     there is a need for a balanced agenda of issues to be
     resolved that must be "inclusive and comprehensive".
     
     Said party President Gerry Adams: "It is Sinn Fein's
     consistent view that an agenda for talks, or
     propositions for Heads of Agreement or a framework for
     a settlement, must be inclusive and comprehensive. It
     needs to be a bridge to the future, not a u-turn to the
     past".
     
     
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>>>> Analysis: No place for northern nationalists
     
     
     "The wrong place, the wrong time, the wrong country"
     read the front page banner headline of the British
     daily tabloid 'The Mirror'. When 28-year-old Fergal
     McClusker was shot dead by loyalist killers, he was
     only a few hundred yards away from his home. When his
     loyalist assailants dragged him away, Fergal was
     returning from his 'local' pub. When loyalist gunmen
     shot Fergal twice in the head, his shattered body lay
     behind a youth club in the grounds of the local chapel
     where members of his family attended Mass. Fergal died
     in the town in which he had been born and in which
     generations of his family had lived and died.
     
     Fergal McCusker was a Catholic born into a sectarian
     state, a nationalist reared under the shadow of a
     unionist regime but he was not in the wrong place, at
     the wrong time, in the wrong country. The fact that the
     media can dismiss Fergal's death in this way, exposes
     the very operation of the sectarian Six County
     statelet. Northern nationalists, Catholics under an
     Orange regime have "no place". Denied all the normal
     criteria of citizenship, nationalists appear
     "stateless", refugees in their own country. This is the
     nettle which the British media, the British government
     and unionist politicans must grasp.
     

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     NOTICES
     
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>>>> Campaign for Bloody Sunday inquiry
     
     
     Online activists are organising a campaign to flood
     British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office with emails,
     faxes and letters to request/demand an _independent_
     _international_ inquiry into the Bloody Sunday massacre. 
     
     The relatives of the victims believe this is the only
     way to assure a "just" investigation that will
     seriously consider all the evidence.
     
     In addition, you can have your name added to a petition
     that is being faxed and emailed to Tony Blair
     requesting an independent investigation of the Bloody
     Sunday tragedy.  Send your real name along with your
     city, state (province) to:
     
     admin@free-eire.org
     
     and your name will be added to the 1,000+ names
     currently on the petition.
     
     A template letter for Tony Blair is attached below. 
     Email him at:
     
     labour-party@geo2.poptel.org.uk
     
     You can also fax Tony Blair at:  FAX: +44 (O) 171 925 0918
     
     Web Page: http://www.number-10.gov.uk
     
     Additional information on this campaign can be obtained
     online at: http://www.free-eire.org/Free-Eire/
     
     
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     
     
     The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair
     Prime Minister
     House of Commons
     London SW1A 0AA
     
     Dear Mr. Blair:
     
     I understand that an announcement on a possible inquiry into the Bloody
     Sunday incident of 1972 is imminent.
     
     I applaud your desire to investigate this cold blooded murder of 14 Derry
     residents on January 30, 1972.  However, given the historical context of
     this incident, and the fact that the families of the victims have never
     been able to have a sense of closure, I feel it is imperative that this
     investigation be handled by a completely ***Independent International
     Investigation Panel***.  This is the only way your government can assure
     the families and the victims that their voices will finally be heard.
     
     As you are well aware, no one has ever been prosecuted for these deaths. 
     Evidence supports the fact that all of the citizens were unarmed when they
     were fired upon during that civil rights march.  Some who were shot were
     actually attempting to help those who had already fallen.  It has taken 26
     years to get to this point, please do not let the families and the victims
     down again.
     
     It is imperative that the British government apologize to its citizens in
     Derry for this tragedy.  Then, you must allow an independent investigation
     access to all pertinent information, withholding nothing.  
     
     Please allow these families to finally put this incident behind them and
     find closure.  Let the world know that you will not allow this travesty of
     justice to continue!
     
     Sincerely yours,
     
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
     Supporters are urged to fill up Blair's office with faxes, emails and letters. 
     Faxes and letters can, also, be directed to the British Embassy and the
     local British Consulate Offices.  
     
     
     The British Embassy
     3100 Massachusetts Ave, NW 
     Washington, DC 20008
     Tel: (202) 558-6500; Fax: (202) 588-7870
