30 September 1999 Edition
Dirty tricks in South Armagh
By Padraig MacDabhaid
An alleged death threat against nine people in the Bessbrook area purporting to come from Direct Action Against Drugs is part of a dirty tricks campaign designed to wreck the peace process, says Sinn Féin Assembly member Conor Murphy.
It was claimed that the threat was issued last week to the Housing Executive and was passed on to the RUC on Wednesday 22 September and that the RUC then notified those on the list.
Conor Murphy says that he was contacted by five young people whom the RUC said were under threat. He subsequently investigated the origins of the letter and was assured that it did not originate from the IRA.
``Republican sources in the area do not believe this is a genuine letter and no one is aware of the existence of this organisation in this area,'' said Murphy. ``It has been brought to my attention that certain elements are at work creating difficulties at a sensitive stage in the peace process - suiting the agenda of those opposed to the Agreement'', he said.
Once again, Vincent McKenna and the UUP's Danny Kennedy were quick to attack both the IRA and Sinn Féin, linking DAAD to the IRA and calling the IRA's cessation into question.
This is not the first time that both men have falsely blamed the IRA for activity in the Bessbrook area in order to further their political interests.
In March, both men blamed the IRA for an attack on a mother of four in the area and used this to call for the expulsion of Sinn Féin from the talks process. McKenna and Kennedy claimed that when a six-man IRA unit could not find their intended target they attacked a mother of four and carved a threat on her leg with a knife.
However, the man who was the intended target of the attack contacted a daily newspaper at the time and said that it was not the IRA who were involved in the attack. He said of Vincent McKenna at the time: ``I don't think he has done any research, and he certainly didn't contact me or any of my family to find out - whatever he did was without our knowledge or consent.''
An alleged death threat against nine people in the Bessbrook area purporting to come from Direct Action Against Drugs is part of a dirty tricks campaign designed to wreck the peace process, says Sinn Féin Assembly member Conor Murphy.
It was claimed that the threat was issued last week to the Housing Executive and was passed on to the RUC on Wednesday 22 September and that the RUC then notified those on the list.
Conor Murphy says that he was contacted by five young people whom the RUC said were under threat. He subsequently investigated the origins of the letter and was assured that it did not originate from the IRA.
``Republican sources in the area do not believe this is a genuine letter and no one is aware of the existence of this organisation in this area,'' said Murphy. ``It has been brought to my attention that certain elements are at work creating difficulties at a sensitive stage in the peace process - suiting the agenda of those opposed to the Agreement'', he said.
Once again, Vincent McKenna and the UUP's Danny Kennedy were quick to attack both the IRA and Sinn Féin, linking DAAD to the IRA and calling the IRA's cessation into question.
This is not the first time that both men have falsely blamed the IRA for activity in the Bessbrook area in order to further their political interests.
In March, both men blamed the IRA for an attack on a mother of four in the area and used this to call for the expulsion of Sinn Féin from the talks process. McKenna and Kennedy claimed that when a six-man IRA unit could not find their intended target they attacked a mother of four and carved a threat on her leg with a knife.
However, the man who was the intended target of the attack contacted a daily newspaper at the time and said that it was not the IRA who were involved in the attack. He said of Vincent McKenna at the time: ``I don't think he has done any research, and he certainly didn't contact me or any of my family to find out - whatever he did was without our knowledge or consent.''