8 January 2004 Edition
Basque left produces new plan for progress
8 January 2004
The Basque pro-independence movement starts the year with new hope for a negotiated solution to the conflict in the Basque Country. It has presented a new peace proposal, the Bergara Agreement, as the basis for a common strategy for all those Basques who want to see the right to self-determination for the Basque Country. The proposal was supported by the Basque armed group ETA, which said in a statement published on 29 December that it is ready "to do whatever is necessary so this initiative reach its final objective". Free article
Inquest families demand full access
8 January 2004
The decision of the British Ministry of Defence to limit access to documentation relating to a number of controversial killings in Tyrone has been slammed by the relatives of those who died. The MoD has agreed to provide the coroner investigating the ten killings, including the deaths of seven IRA Volunteers, with access to documentation relating to the deaths but has refused to allow access for the families and solicitors acting on behalf of the families of the deceased. Free article
Zapatistas call on Indigenous people to organise
8 January 2004
The first of January 2004 marked the tenth anniversary of the rising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in Chiapas in Southern Mexico. In the last days of December, the EZLN called on the Indigenous people to take their future into their own hands. It was Commander David, one of the indigenous leaders of the EZLN, who made public the statement of the Zapatista army as the anniversary of its rising against the policies of the Mexican Government of the day approached. Free article
Threat to SF Councillor
8 January 2004
North Antrim Sinn Féin Assembly member Philip McGuigan has hit out at the UDA after they issued a public threat to his party colleague, Cllr Oliver McMullan, through a Ballymoney newspaper. "Before Christmas, loyalist thugs attacked Catholic schoolchildren at an outdoor pursuits centre in Bushmills," McGuigan explained. Free article
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Court told missing man a police informer
8 January 2004
Belfast High Court has heard that the missing Armagh man Gareth O'Connor was an informer working for the PSNI. The allegation was made by defence lawyers acting on behalf of four men arrested in connection with the seizure of a rocket-propelled grenade alleged to have been intended for a dissident attack on crown forces' personnel. Free article
SDLP blocks St Patrick's Day Funding
8 January 2004
An SDLP councillor has been accused of wrecking this year's St Patrick's Day Carnival after she broke ranks with her party to oppose Belfast City Council funding for the event. Carmel Hanna "did a solo run" - breaking with her own party colleagues and Sinn Féin - when she refused to support a motion that would have seen the council providing £50,000 funding for three events on 17 March of this year. Free article
DUP road blockers escape punishment
8 January 2004
East Belfast Sinn Féin representative Joe O'Donnell has criticised the judge who on Tuesday gave absolute discharges to the DUP MP Peter Robinson (pictured) and his party colleague Ruth Patterson after they were found guilty of illegally blocking traffic on the Albertbridge Road to facilitate a loyalist event. Free article
Former prisoner made to miss flight
8 January 2004
Martin McGuinness has called for an end to the harassment of Irish people at British airports following a former prisoner being made to miss his flight home from London just before Christmas. Brian Arthurs and his wife were returning from a weekend visit to his brother, who lives in England, when he was detained by British Security Services and held without explanation until after his flight had departed. Free article
Sinn Féin no threat
8 January 2004
A report from April 1973 reveals that British Government officials only legalised Sinn Féin because they believed it was a means of halting the party's rise. The report, by one F Steele, is an account of his visit to the Bogside and Creggan where he met with, amongst others, John Hume. It reveals the British habit of both patronising those in the nationalist community who were prepared to be anti-republican, and of profoundly underestimating the abilities and electoral prospects of Sinn Féin. Free article