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IRA ends thirty years of armed struggle

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: In a historic move, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) on Thursday announced its decision to give up armed struggle and pursue peaceful political means to achieve its goal of a united Ireland.

The long-awaited decision, hailed by Prime Minister Tony Blair as of "unparalleled magnitude,'' is expected to bring to an end 30 years of violent tactics that sections of the IRA continued to use even after the 1998 Good Friday peace accord which obliged it to cease all para-military activity and disarm.

Order to "dump arms"

The IRA's statement, asking all its units to "dump arms'' and pursue their aims through "exclusively peaceful means,'' represents a seismic shift in its strategy which, despite several acts of decommissioning, had remained opposed to giving up arms altogether leading to a virtual breakdown of the peace process.

Mr Blair, speaking in Downing Street shortly after the IRA's announcement, welcomed it for its "clarity'' and said it was a day when after many "false dawns... . peace replaces war''.

"It is what we have striven for and worked for throughout the eight years since the Good Friday Agreement,'' he said adding that he hoped it would mark the beginning of a new future in which memories of "futile violence'' would be forgotten.

The statement committed the organisation to "put its arms beyond use'' under the supervision of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning headed by the former Canadian army officer John de Chastelain.

It said independent witnesses would be invited to see the decommissioning.

But it reiterated that the armed struggle had been "entirely legitimate'' and said it remained "fully committed to the goals of Irish unity''.

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