25 February 1999 Edition
Equality denied
As the March 10 deadline approaches and the artificially created decommissioning deadlock in the peace process continues, nationalists and republicans in the Six Counties could be forgiven for asking what they have gained from the Good Friday Agreement.
A cornerstone of Good Friday was the equality agenda, but to date, one of the few signs of activity in implementing the Agreement is the still powerless assembly on the hill at Stormont. Sinn Féin has been burdened with the task of attaining unilateral decommissioning before any progress can be made.
Meanwhile, the British and unionist arsenal, which stood at 133,769 legally held weapons in December 1995, not to mention the guns of the loyalist death squads, RUC, RIR, and the British Army, remains intact and under no apparent pressure from those clamouring for decommissioning.
British forces continue to use nationalist areas as training grounds, spyposts and installations remain, and foot patrols have actually increased in nationalist areas of Tyrone and Fermanagh. The Royal Ulster Constabulary, a force whose sectarian record has been repeatedly documented by human rights groups, and a body which is entirely unacceptable to nationalists, continues to operate unchecked, almost a year after the agreement was signed.
Nationalist leaders from Portadown's Garvaghy Road travelled to Dublin this week to try to publicize their plight and gain support for their right to live free from sectarian harassment. Their payback for the Parades Commission's refusal to allow Orangemen to coat-trail through their area last July has been almost 250 days of siege and around 160 loyalist demonstrations. In the town where RUC officers stood by while Robert Hamill was kicked to death by a loyalist mob, nationalists in Portadown, like nationalists throughout the Six Counties, have the right to ask where is their peace dividend. Where is their freedom from sectarian harassment? In short, where is the promised equality for nationalist rights.
Now is the time for the agreement to be implemented in full. Nationalists have already had to wait too long to see visible progress.
A cornerstone of Good Friday was the equality agenda, but to date, one of the few signs of activity in implementing the Agreement is the still powerless assembly on the hill at Stormont. Sinn Féin has been burdened with the task of attaining unilateral decommissioning before any progress can be made.
Meanwhile, the British and unionist arsenal, which stood at 133,769 legally held weapons in December 1995, not to mention the guns of the loyalist death squads, RUC, RIR, and the British Army, remains intact and under no apparent pressure from those clamouring for decommissioning.
British forces continue to use nationalist areas as training grounds, spyposts and installations remain, and foot patrols have actually increased in nationalist areas of Tyrone and Fermanagh. The Royal Ulster Constabulary, a force whose sectarian record has been repeatedly documented by human rights groups, and a body which is entirely unacceptable to nationalists, continues to operate unchecked, almost a year after the agreement was signed.
Nationalist leaders from Portadown's Garvaghy Road travelled to Dublin this week to try to publicize their plight and gain support for their right to live free from sectarian harassment. Their payback for the Parades Commission's refusal to allow Orangemen to coat-trail through their area last July has been almost 250 days of siege and around 160 loyalist demonstrations. In the town where RUC officers stood by while Robert Hamill was kicked to death by a loyalist mob, nationalists in Portadown, like nationalists throughout the Six Counties, have the right to ask where is their peace dividend. Where is their freedom from sectarian harassment? In short, where is the promised equality for nationalist rights.
Now is the time for the agreement to be implemented in full. Nationalists have already had to wait too long to see visible progress.