<HTML><PRE>Subj:	 RMD980210 Irish news for Tuesday 10 February
Date:	98-02-10 07:43:28 EST
From:	rmlist-reply@irlnet.com (RM_Distribution)
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     IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
     http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
     
     Tuesday 10 February 1998

1.   Death of Paddy McManus
2.   US advisor held by Crown Forces
3.   Drugs link to Belfast shooting
4.   US lawyers to examine McArdle case
5.   Proposed RUC changes rejected
6.   RUC raid Felons club
7.   Analysis: Return of unionist rule is a nightmare

____________________________________________________________


>>>> Death of Paddy McManus
     
     
     Paddy McManus, a Belfast City Councillor for 13 years
     and a former member of Sinn Fein's Ard Chomhairle
     (leadership) died yesterday at the home he shared with
     his sister in Belfast.
     
     Party colleagues have paid fulsome tribute to a
     dedicated representative for the besieged north Belfast
     community.  Paddy continued his council work until just
     a few weeks ago despite suffering from a malignant
     brain tumour.
     
     His work was also recognised by loyalist death-sqauds
     and British forces through targeting and harassment.
     Despite his slight build, Paddy was always to be found
     at the forefront of his community's struggle and
     suffered the consequences from the early seventies,
     when he was interned without trial for four years until
     last year, when his arm was broken in an attack by the
     RUC police on a sit-down protest.
     
     Colleague Tom Hartley said Paddy had never failed to
     exude a quiet but determined demeanour.
     
     "His commitment to his north Belfast constituents
     during his long period on the city council was
     unstinting. There is no doubting that those
     constituents will experience an acute sense of loss. 
     Likewise, Paddy's active promotion of republican ideals
     and objectives has been unswerving.  There can be no
     doubt that his contribution served to advance the
     republican cause," Mr Hartley said.
     
     "We have lost a close friend and true comrade," added
     fellow north Belfast councillors Bobby and Danny
     Lavery.
     
     Paddy, who was approaching his 60th birthday, first
     took a seat in the Oldpark ward of north Belfast in
     1985 and held it until his death yesterday. Paddy rose
     to become a member of the Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle and
     chairman of north Belfast Comhairle Ceantair.
     
     His funeral takes place today.
     

____________________________________________________________
    
     
>>>> US advisor held by Crown Forces
     
     
     Calling for an explanation from the British government
     over the harassment and detention of a senior member of
     the US government last Friday, North Belfast
     Sinn Fein peace negotiator Gerry Kelly said it as
     "another glaring example of the British military
     refusing to adjust to any notion of a peace process".
     
     Kelly was speaking after it became known that Virginia
     Manuel from the US Department of Commerce, along with
     North Belfast councillor Mick Conlon and a US national
     were stopped by members of the RUC's Mobile Support
     Units and British army as they left the Springvale
     training centre in West Belfast. The trio had been
     travelling to another economic meeting with
     representatives from nationalist areas of North Belfast
     when they were stopped near Lanark Way. The RUC
     challenged Ms Manuel to explain her presence in Belfast
     and illegally asked her to provide her date of birth,
     which she refused to comply with. Meanwhile the other
     US national, the owner of the vehicle the trio were in
     was being grilled as to how she could obtain "such a
     nice car".
     
     North Belfast councillor Mick Conlon who travelled with
     Ms Manuel described the incident as "extremely
     worrying, given the fact that if the crown forces feel
     confident enough to illegally challenge a US government
     official, what are they doing to those in our community
     who have no diplomatic clout."
     
     
     * Meanwhile, a Sinn Fein councillor in County Armagh has
     endured an increase in harassment against him.
     
     Brian Cunningham has been followed for two weeks by an
     RUC car as he carried out constituency work in Keady.
     
     "Last night a police car, with two RUC men inside, was
     parked outside my house, and it has been doing this for
     the past two weeks," alleged Mr Cunningham.
     
     But he said he had reached the last straw yesterday
     morning when a friend whom he had just dropped off was
     stopped and interrogated by RUC members.
     

____________________________________________________________     
     
     
>>>> Drugs link to Belfast shooting
     
     
     The attack last night on Belfast man Brendan Campbell
     is believed to have been drugs-related.  Campbell, who
     had been serious injured in a similar gun attack three
     weeks ago, was shot dead within 25 yards of Lisburn RUC
     base, one of the largest in the Six Counties.
     
     The shooting happened about a mile from a pub where Mr
     Campbell was shot and wounded last month. On that
     occasion, he was hit in the chest when a gunman burst
     into the Meadows Tavern on the Boucher Road.
     
     A woman companion of Mr Campbell was injured in the
     attack and is in serious condition at Belfast City
     Hospital.

     Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, said he knew the
     victim's family and regretted the killing.  Mr Adams
     dismissed claims by Ulster Unionists this morning that
     the incident had a connection to his party.
                  
     
____________________________________________________________
    
     
>>>> US lawyers to examine McArdle case
     
     
     Twenty seven human rights lawyers from the US are to
     investigate the case of Mr Seamus McArdle, the south
     Armagh man on trial in London in connection with the
     explosion at Canary Wharf on February 6th, 1996. The
     lawyers are to visit him later this month at the end of
     his trial.
     
     A prisoners' rights group, South Armagh Saoirse,
     highlighted his case in December. Mr McArdle has been
     subjected to a cruel and degrading regime at Belmarsh
     Prison since his arrest last April. The organisation
     began a campaign, with the McArdle family, protesting
     against the denial of his basic human rights.
     
     Mr McArdle is routinely humiliated by being
     stripsearched as much as 16 times a week, is locked up
     22 hours a day with limited association and has very
     restricted access to visits from family and friends.
     
     Saoirse has urged people to write to the British
     government or Home Office to highlight the case, which
     is attracting interest from international human rights
     groups as well as the American lawyers.
     
     The UN in Geneva has already put an "on notice" tag on
     the McArdle case following notification of an injury
     received during his initial detention in south Armagh
     last year. Details were also recorded by the Committee
     on the Administration of Justice and the London-based
     British Irish Rights Watch.
     
     
     SUPPORT FOR CEARTA
     
     The last three weeks has seen the continued rise in
     American support for Cearta, the pressure group set up
     to campaign around rights for Six County nationalists.
     The Massachusetts State senate in passing a resolution
     supporting the call for guaranteed democratic rights
     and fundamental change in the North has now become the
     first US state thrown its weight behind the groups
     Charter for Change. Massachusetts was also the first
     state to embrace and endorse the MacBride principles.
     
     Cearta has led a highly successful campaign to get
     individuals and organisation to support the need to
     dismantle Six County institutions historically linked
     with injustice and discrimination. This includes 'root
     and branch' reform of all aspects of the legal system
     and the disbanding of the RUC.
     
     In America those passing resolutions in support of the
     Ceartaprinciples are the Massachusetts State; Rockwood
     County; New York City Council; the Uniformed
     Firefighters Association; the North Californian Service
     Employees Union; the Northeast Council of State Labour
     Federations; the 400,000 American Postal Workers Union;
     the National Health Care Workers Union; and Joint
     Council 16 of the Teamsters.
     
     Meanwhile in Belfast, Inez McCormack, regional
     secretary of the Unison trae union has also pledged her
     support to the principles of the Charter, saying,
     "initiatives directed at ensuring justice and fairness
     on an inclusive basis urgently need to be made a
     reality."

     
____________________________________________________________
          
     
>>>> Proposed RUC changes rejected
     
     
     Nationalists last night rejected proposals announced by
     Britain's governor in Ireland yesterday for reforming
     the RUC police as another public relations exercise.
     
     Mo Mowlam outlined changes to the Police Authority -
     the body charged with holding the RUC chief constable
     to account. The new plans give a number of options to
     change the way the 19-member authority is selected.
     
     Options include an open public election across the
     north or a proposal to have elected councillors
     appointed to the Authority proportional to their party
     size. Another is that Ms Mowlam appoints the members as
     she does at present but with members selected from
     geographical regions across the Six Counties.
     
     Sinn Fein's chief negotiator and MP, Martin McGuinness
     said the proposals fell far short of what was required.
     "The RUC are unacceptable to the nationalist people in
     any guise. They cannot be reformed. They need to be
     replaced with a police service which can enjoy the
     support and respect of the nationalist people." And he
     said the idea that political parties could be elected
     to the Police Authority to run the RUC was "a
     non-starter" because it would mean that unionists would
     dominate such a body and in effect have control over
     the RUC.
     

____________________________________________________________
     
     
>>>> RUC raid Felons club
     
     
     "It is a disgrace," says Liam Shannon, manager of West
     Belfast's Felons Club, "at a time when there is a
     murder campaign against nationalists, that the RUC are
     more interested in harassing the Felons Association
     than pursuing loyalist killers."
     
     On the morning of John McColgan's funeral, a West
     Belfast taxi driver murdered by loyalists,  a large
     convoy of the RUC accompanied by British paratroopers
     drove into Andersonstown.
     
     A dozen armoured RUC Land Rovers and British army jeeps
     lined both sides of the road outside the Kennedy
     shopping centre. Only the day before known loyalists
     had been spotted taking photographs of the area.
     "Another killing?", "A loyalist murder plot thwarted?"
     Speculation was rife. As dozens of heavily armed
     paratroopers and RUC personnel emerged, local shoppers
     watched with disbelief. "Are they raiding the Felons?"
     
     A passer-by approached a British soldier. "Hey, you
     won't find any loyalist killers in there," she said.
     
     "This is the second time in the last six months that
     the RUC have raided the Felons," says Liam, "removing
     financial records, documents and a considerable amount
     of personal money." At the same time the homes of five
     workers and club members were also raided. Summonses to
     appear at RUC barracks were issued to the Association
     Chairperson and Secretary.
     
     "They also called to the city centre workplace of a
     former employee and arrested him," says Liam, "the
     workforce is mixed and the RUC brought unnecessary
     attention to him by arresting him at work." A week
     later the RUC returned, raiding the home of a former
     club secretary. It was particularly provocative. At the
     time of the raid, the former secretary was at
     Woodbourne RUC barracks on club business. He was
     arrested and taken to Grosvenor Road Barracks after he
     returned to the Felons.
     
     The Felons Association was formed in 1948 to "foster
     and maintain among Irish Republicans friendships formed
     during imprisonment or internment as a result of their
     service to the Irish Republican cause". In the last
     fifty years the Association has provided  an important
     focus not only amongst ex-prisoners and the community
     in which it is located, but also within the wider
     nationalist community of the North. "We are an
     important element in the community and integrity of
     Nationalist Belfast," says Liam, "providing employment
     and supporting cultural, language, sporting and youth
     projects."
     
     Last week's raids follow a pattern going back over the
     past year and coincide with the appointment of RUC
     Inspector Bobby Parkes, an RUC officer renowned for his
     anti-republican attitude. "When Republican prisoners
     and ex-prisoners are making a significant contribution
     to the current peace process," says Liam, "sustained
     harassment of the Association is bound to be seen as an
     attack on that process."
     

____________________________________________________________
   
     
>>>> Analysis: Return of unionist rule is a nightmare


     Last night I woke screaming. I had dreamed that Ken
     Maginnis had been installed as the minister for justice
     in a new power-sharing 'executive' in Northern Ireland.
     
     You smile perhaps. Or maybe, like me, you are fearful
     that the logic of the current peace process might
     actually lead to such a bizarre possibility.
     
     This week John Hume and Seamus Mallon told us bluntly
     that the creation of a new northern assembly is an
     essential part of what the British call a 'balanced
     constitutional settlement'; that without an assembly we
     cannot have a council of Ireland because without it
     northern representatives to the council could not be
     selected or made accountable.
     
     In a normal society, democratic structures of
     accountability would be taken for granted. But Northern
     Ireland is not a normal society.
     
     Instead we live in a society where the political
     representatives of the majority community, with a few
     honourable exceptions, espouse political values and
     ideas which are deeply sectarian and racist in
     character.
     
     John Hume suggests the development of the European
     Union as a model of how deeply divided societies
     (Germany and France in particular) can overcome
     centuries of hostility and work together to build new
     and acceptable institutions.
     
     But this is only half the story. The truth is that the
     great post-war reconciliation between Germany and
     France took place in the context where those elements
     within German and French societies which had espoused
     fascism and racism had been defeated and marginalised.
     
     The modern European Union was not built by a Germany
     still led by the Nazis or by a French government made
     up of right wing collaborationists. It was forged by
     people from Germany and France committed to shared
     values of justice and democratic values.
     
     The peace process is in a state of crisis because for
     many non-unionists there is now the distinct fear that
     the outcome suggested by Mallon and Hume will see
     unionists like Ken Maginnis and David Trimble given
     real authority over our lives.
     
     This fear has little to do with the fact that they are
     unionists or see themselves as British.
     
     It is because the past days and weeks have revealed
     their dark side: politicians who lack a basic
     understanding of the need to value human rights and
     whose mindset is thoroughly contaminated by
     sectarianism and racism to a degree which makes them
     unfit to hold high public office.
     
     Bloody Sunday is but the most recent example.
     
     David Trimble, a man who aspires to become the leader
     of a new Northern Ireland, told the House of Commons
     that responsibility for the Bloody Sunday massacre lay
     with the marchers themselves because the parade was
     'illegal'.
     
     The decision to hold a new inquiry into these events
     was 'a sop to nationalists'.
     
     This response revealed a fatal flaw in his political
     makeup: an inability to see that in a democratic state
     the law must be applied impartially and that a state
     which claims any moral legitimacy must apply that law
     equally to all, irrespective of their politics or
     identity.
     
     A man like Trimble who can so casually support the
     shooting down of unarmed demonstrators or who believes
     in one law for unionists and another for nationalists
     should under no circumstances be allowed a role in
     government.
     
     Take Ken Maginnis, often suggested as a new kind of
     unionist with whom nationalists can do business.
     
     It was Ken Maginnis who called for the resignation of
     Mo Mowlam within hours of Billy Wright's death, yet who
     demonstrated a cold indifference to the many Catholics
     whose lives were wasted by Wright's followers which was
     breathtaking even by the standards of the past 30
     years.
     
     Since the death of Wright, the unionists have shown
     that they have learned nothing from the past. They are
     unable to move beyond a sense of ethnic superiority,
     where they alone matter or count, to one in which they
     would apply to others the same values that they would
     want applied to themselves.
     
     They have worked hard to undermine any goodwill which
     non-unionists may have felt towards them. Instead they
     have made it virtually impossible for the idea of a
     northern assembly to have any credibility among an
     increasingly-sceptical nationalist community.
     
     
     * Robin Percival is a member of the Pat Finucane Centre
     in Derry, http://www.serve.com/pfc
     



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Subject: RMD980210 Irish news for Tuesday 10 February

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