     IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP 
     Monday 26 January, 1998
     

1.   Nationalists hold  vigils as attacks continue
2.   British military intelligence offensive exposed
3.   "Lid coming off" Bloody Sunday whitewash

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>>>> Nationalists hold vigils as attacks continue
     
     
     Tension and fear drew the nationalist people of Belfast
     together yesterday following the discovery of the body
     of the latest victim of sectarian violence, dumped on
     the western outskirts of the city.
     
     Over a thousand people took part in vigils and peace
     rallies in north and west Belfast yesterday as the
     litany of loyalist murders and murderous attacks grows.
     
     On Saturday afternoon, taxi-driver John McColgan did
     not guess the motives of two male passengers as he
     pciked them up in the heart of Republican west Belfast
     on Saturday afternoon.
     
     An hour-and-a-half later, his body was found dumped on
     the side of the road with five bullet wounds to the
     back of the head.
     
     The killers used their victim's cab to make their
     escape, and the vehicle was later found burning in
     south Belfast.
     
     The Catholic father-of-three had recently found a new
     job as a lorry driver but worked two nights as a taxi
     driver "just to make up a a wage", his wife said.
     
     The shooting was described as an attempt to influence
     peace talks and intimidate nationalists by Sinn Fein
     West Belfast MP Gerry Adams. His murder brings the
     number killed in the past week to seven, six Catholic
     civilians murdered at random and a loyalist
     paramilitary commander, shot by the Republican INLA in
     retaliation.
     
     Mrs McColgan said her husband had been worried about
     the danger of being a taxi driver but felt "safe"
     following a statement by a loyalist death-squad on
     Friday.
     
     "I said to him on Friday, before he went out to work:
     'John, just you watch yourself,' and he said: 'Sure the
     UFF have made a statement, that their ceasefire has
     been reinstated and I'll be alright'.
     
     But the UFF ("Ulster Freedom Fighters") appear to be
     continuing their sectarian killing spree.  A statement
     on Friday said that they had ended what they
     unbelievably described as a "military response" to
     "republican aggression".
     
     Two Catholics have been murdered since the UFF
     statement was issued, taxi-driver John McColgan in west
     Belfast on Saturday and construction worker Liam Conway
     in the north of the city on Friday evening.
     
     And yesterday a Catholic man in Lurgan, County Armagh,
     was shot and wounded in an attack claimed by the
     mid-Ulster LVF ("Loyalist Volunteer Force") murder
     gang, which has recently aligned itself with the UFF.
     
     The victim, who was in his 30s, was shot in the
     shoulder by a lone gunman as he sat in his lorry
     outside his home. The same gang tried to kill two other
     men in separate attacks less than an hour beforehand,
     first attempting to grab a newspaper delivery man out
     of his vehicle and later, a pedestrian outside his
     home.
     
     Local people have expressed scepticim about the
     apparent freedom loyalists in Lurgan enjoy when they
     launch their attacks and escape without being spotted.
     Several days prior to the attack the area was saturated
     with RUC police and British Army but at the time of the
     attacks they were suddenly withdrawn, residents
     complained.
     
     Fear has mixed with a deep sense of anger and outrage
     among nationalists as the UFF slaughter continues. It
     is thought that the loyalists will continue to kill
     innocent Catholics in an effort to extract further
     concessions in peace talks, to add to their widely
     perceived gains over the Christmas period.
     
     Nationalists have been urged not to relax their guard
     and to remain vigilant following the apparent
     resumption by the UFF of their "no claim, no blame"
     policy of carrying out attacks without admitting
     responsibility.
     
     
     RUC CULPABLE
     
     The murders and the Lurgan attack had have "the
     hallmark of the UFF stamped all over them", according
     to Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness. "Their statement of
     Friday night is not worth the paper it was written on,"
     he declared.
     
     And he accused RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan of
     culpability in the murders of Catholics following his
     belated revelation that the UFF were involved in three
     of the recent murders of Catholics. Sinn Fein and media
     sources have been pointing to evidence of UFF
     involvement in the sectarian murder of Catholics since
     that of Belfast man John Slane in March of last year,
     but the RUC refused to confirm that the UFF ceasefire
     had ceased to exist.
     
     The MP for Mid-Ulster called on Flanagan to inform the
     public about how long he held this information and just
     when did he place it in front of the British
     government.  "The British government must also disclose
     when they were made aware of the involvement of the
     UFF," he insisted.
     
     "Why did the RUC Chief Constable not include John Slane
     in those murders he attributed to the UFF?
     
     "Was he sitting on vital information for political
     expediency to protect the political representatives of
     these organisations who claimed that their mandate was
     the silence of loyalist guns?
     
     "While he sat on this evidence Catholics continued to
     be killed."
     
     It has been widely accepted in Belfast that the UFF was
     behind a number of killings over the past year. But it
     was only when faced with demands from Sinn Fein for the
     release of forensics after recent murders that Flanagan
     confirmed what was common knowledge.
     
     It could not be a coincidence that within twenty-four
     hours of Mr. Flanagan's revelation that the UFF issued
     their statement of admission in a series of sectarian
     murders, said McGuinness.
     
     That statement was an "affront" to the relatives of
     those nationalists randomly murdered in a "campaign of
     'any Catholic will do' which Mr. Flanagan could have
     stopped by releasing the information available to him
     for the past twelve months," he added.
     
     In the past seven weeks, twenty Catholics have been
     shot in random sectarian attacks of which seven have
     died. But the RUC have remained tight-lipped on the
     forensics on the weapons used in sectarian killings.
     
     McGuinness said this would lead one to "question his
     motives for coming out at this particular time with
     what can only be described as minimal disclosure".
     
     
     BOMB
     
     Meanwhile, a Republican splinter group opposed to the
     current political talks added to pressure on the
     process by blowing up a popular entertainment venue in
     Enniskillen in County Fermanagh on Saturday. The
     "Continuity Army Council" blew up the River Club in the
     town centre in a re-run of the bombing of the nearby
     Killyhevlin Hotel in 1996. The area had been cleared
     following a warning, while two night clubs in Belfast
     were also cleared following hoax bomb alerts.
     
     McGuinness said he regarded the bombing in Enniskillen
     as an attack on the peace process itself and the hopes
     of the nationalist people.
     
     "At a time when the nationalist people are in the teeth
     of a sectarian onslaught this bomb provides a
     convenient and complete distraction away from the
     sectarian slaughter for the British government and
     unionist politicians," he said.
     
     
     TOUGH DECISIONS
     
     Talks resume today in Lancaster House in London amid an
     escalating sense of crisis, with the future
     participation by loyalists in the talks in the balance.
     Speaking in London, Gerry Adams criticised the British
     government's handling of the situation.
     
     "For the British secretary of state to say in response
     to this latest killing that there are 'tough decisions
     facing the people' is to evade the issue. The tough
     decisions at this time are those facing the British
     government," said Mr Adams told an audience of over a
     thousand in London yesterday evening.
     
     The British government had "succumbed to the Orange
     card being played," he said.
     
     "The loyalist killing is about preventing change and
     intimidating nationalists. We will not be intimidated."
     
     "Let us ... tell them that no matter how many
     nationalists they kill, tell them no matter how long
     they bounce in and out and tactically try to undermine
     the democratic position, that they are going to fail.
     
     "Because nationalists in the Six Counties are never,
     ever, ever going to accept second-class citizenship
     ever again."
     

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>>>> British military intelligence offensive exposed
     
     
     The IRA has intercepted a cache of highly secret
     British intelligence information, it was revealed
     yesterday.
     
     The classified documents, maps and recent aerial
     photographs pinpoint homes in South Armagh and across
     the border in County Louth. Copies of some of the
     photographs and documents were published in the
     'Ireland on Sunday' newspaper today.
     
     Pat McNamee, a Sinn Fein negotiator at the Stormont
     talks whose home in Crossmaglen was among those
     detailed, said that his main concern was for people who
     were targeted, particularly given the spate of
     sectarian murders over the last month.
     
     "The really scary thing about all this from a personal
     point of view is that these documents could have fallen
     into the hands of loyalist assassins," he said.
     
     "This would put the lives of all these people and their
     families in danger as the British Army is clearly
     insinuating that we are suspects and it gives very
     clear directions on how to find us."
     
     Confirmation that the British Army are flying missions
     inside the 26 Counties has embarrased the Irish
     government and provoked outrage among Louth residents
     who now fear loyalist attack.  Revelations about the
     Crown force's covert operations comes at a time when
     the South Armagh Residents and Farmers Association is
     mounting protests to draw attention to the heavy
     military activity in the area.
     
     The photos and maps, with individual houses identified
     by ink circles, were accompanied by jargon-filled
     training materials as well as details on how military
     intelligence units would focus on low-level information
     about the entire community within the occupied area to
     achieve political and military objectives.
     
     "The British army remains the largest and most ruthless
     armed terrorist group in the north of Ireland," said
     McNamee, who added that the files provided concrete
     proof that British 'securocrats' are still on a war
     footing. "This confirms what people in south Armagh
     have known about the British army overt and covert
     operations in this area," said McNamee. "Since the IRA
     cessation, people on the ground here in south Armagh
     have seen an intensification of British militarisation
     with the extension of installations such as
     watchtowers."
     
     The documents confirm that within weeks of the
     announcement of the IRA's ceasefire in 1994, the
     British military put in place a massive surveillance
     operation, with spying by satellite, helicopter, phone
     tapping and mobile phone tracking.  The operation was
     known as "Operation Vengeful" with British troops on
     the ground concentrated on maintaining the exhaustive
     logs on the movement of every vehicle in their area.
     
     "Operation Vengeful" indicated a lack of commitment by
     the British government to the peace process, said
     McNamee.
     
     "They have shown that they have no intention of scaling
     down their operations in nationalist areas and that
     they will undermine, in whatever way possible, the
     legitimate aspirations of the residents of this area."
     
     
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>>>> "Lid coming off" Bloody Sunday whitewash
     
     
     
     Thousands attended a march in London yesterday
     demanding justice for the relatives of the 14 civil
     rights demonstrators, shot dead by British soldiers on
     Bloody Sunday, 26 years ago this week.
     
     Intense pressure is again on the British government to
     end the cover-up which began on January 30, 1972, when
     troopers fired on a Derry protest against human rights
     abuses.
     
     Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn addressed protesters who
     grouped in Highbury Fields, north London, before they
     left for their three-mile march to a rally at Caxton
     House, St John's Way.
     
     "People have been telling me Bloody Sunday was a long
     time ago and what does it matter now. But it does
     matter," he said.
     
     "I remember it and the families of the victims remember
     it every day when they get up. We still don't know what
     happened. We don't know where the orders came from to
     fire."
     
     Mr Corbyn, MP for Islington North, said he wanted an
     inquiry and an apology for the people of Derry and for
     the victims' families.
     
     The march was important for the Irish peace process, he
     said, adding: "Remember this, that to look forward to a
     future of hope and peace we have to put together the
     wrongs of the past."
     
     Marchers held flags and placards calling for the
     release of Irish political prisoners behind a large
     white banner which proclaimed "Peace through British
     withdrawal". Harassed by Scotland Yard police and
     assailed by a small ultra right-wing National Front
     group, demonstrators defiantly shouted "Bloody Sunday,
     14 dead, let the truth be told" as they marched along.
     
     At the closing rally, the marchers heard speeches from
     leading campaigners from the Bloody Sunday Relatives
     Campaign.
     
     Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle member Dodie McGuinness,
     representing Sinn Fein, said she hoped the day would
     herald a historic move by the British government to
     open an inquiry.
     
     She said: "By doing this march we want to help show
     that justice must be done and we want the government to
     deliver us that right."
     
     Other speakers included John McDonnell, Labour MP for
     Hayes and Harlington, and Joe McKinney of the Bloody
     Sunday Relatives campaign.
     
     Mr McKinney, whose 27-year-old brother Willie died on
     Bloody Sunday, said he was optimistic the march would
     have an effect on the Government. He said: "We don't
     want compensation we just want a result and an inquiry.
     We want everyone to recognise that the victims were
     innocent."
     
     Although former British Prime Minister John Major
     begrudgingly admitted that the Bloody Sunday victims
     "should be regarded as innocent" of allegations by the
     original Widgery tribunal that some or all carried
     nail-bombs or were armed, there was never any
     indication that his Conservative government would
     apologise.
     
     Meanwhile, closer scrutiny in the media of the events
     of Bloddy Sunday have provoked bitter recriminations
     within the British military and political extablishment
     of the time and exposed deep contradictions in the
     official position.
     
     Most recently, Colonel Wilford of the Paratrooper
     Regiment -- responsible for most of the killings --
     recently acknowledged that there was gunfire directed
     at the marchers by other British Army Regiments.
     
     And it was revealed on Friday that the then senior RUC
     police officer in Derry that day, Chief Superintendent
     Lagan, had passed on intelligence information to the
     two most senior British Army Officers in the North of
     Ireland at the time that the IRA would withdraw from
     the nationalist Bogside area of Derry where the march
     took place.
     
     Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness commenting on the latest
     revelations and comments about Bloody Sunday said: "we
     have seen the lid being taken off the can and the worms
     starting to crawl out".
     
     He added that a British apology for Bloody Sunday would
     not satisfy "one single person" on the streets of
     Derry: "They are looking for an international public
     inquiry."
     
     Mr McGuinness said the comments by Wilford and Lagan
     had dispelled the myths that the IRA had fired on
     British soldiers that day or that the British military
     had believed the IRA would even be present in the
     Bogside that day.
     
     "For twenty-six years they have used these two myths to
     justify the actions of the paratroopers by claiming
     they were acting in self defence," said McGuinness.
     
     "There is not the slightest possibility that the
     British Army did not know for the past 26 years that
     other regiments were involved in the killings on that
     day.  For their own propaganda reasons they engaged in
     a massive cover-up and media management campaign to
     minimise international censure."
     
     Now that the truth was emerging the same 'securocrats'
     who were involved in the original cover-up were intent
     on fabricating another plausible excuse for the murders
     which took place that day, he said.
     
     The fact that there was shooting carried out by at
     least two other Regiments has been recognised since the
     day following the massacre.
     
     "They are setting the scene to once more attempt to
     hoodwink what they perceive to be a gullible public
     that a dreadful mistake took place when the
     Paratroopers thought they were coming under fire from
     the IRA, when in fact it was from another British
     Regiment."
     
     He praised the "tenacious" pursuit of the facts and the
     truth by the families of the victims, which was
     beginning to bear fruit.
     
     "What is the ulterior motive for Colonel Wilford for
     the first time to publicly acknowledge the involvement
     of a regiment other than the Paratroopers under his
     command?" he asked.
     
     "We have those who bear the ultimate responsibility for
     the murders that day - the politicians and the senior
     British Army Officers - scarpering like scared rats to
     cover their backs and shift the burden of guilt to one
     another."
     
     Mr McGuinness was scpetical over the intentions of the
     British government, which he said was "shadow-boxing"
     with the decision of whether or not to have a full
     investigation.
     
     "They haven't got a clue as to how they are going to
     proceed," he opined.
     
     "They know that the families are not going to relent in
     their pursuit of the truth and at the same time they
     are coming under tremendous pressure from the Ministry
     of Defence and the 'securocrats' within the British
     establishment to do nothing."
     
     It was now up to Dublin to rally international pressure
     on the British government until they announced the full
     independent international inquiry demanded by the
     families.  In the meantime, the Irish Prime Minister
     Bertie Ahern should follow through on a promise to
     publish the dossier of evidence which his government
     had amassed.
     
     "He should not allow the British government to continue
     prevaricating in the hope the campaign will falter.  He
     should name a date now and if the British government do
     not respond positively by that date, then the files
     should be released."
