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Pummy Lathigara
2 August 2024 |
On 28 July 2005, the leadership of Irish Republican Army (IRA) formally announced an end to its 36-year armed campaign against the British rule in Northern Ireland. Through the formal order, the organisation instructed it volunteers to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means.
The Rise of IRA
The Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary organization seeking the establishment of a republic, the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and the reunification of Ireland, was founded in 1919 to militarily oppose British rule in Northern Ireland. During the Anglo-Irish War (1919-21), the IRA employed guerrilla tactics to force the British government to negotiate. The resulting settlement established two new entities – the Irish Free State, with 26 counties granted dominion status within the British Empire; and Northern Ireland, comprising of six counties, also known as the province of Ulster, remained part of the United Kingdom.
The terms of the agreement were, however, unacceptable to a substantial section of IRA members. Consequently, the organization was split into two factions one supporting the treaty and the other opposing it, which came to be known as the “Irregulars.” It began to organize armed resistance against the new independent government. With some members indulging in parliamentary politics in the Irish Free State, the aspiration for a united republican Ireland was still alive, to be achieved by force if necessary. During the 1930s and 1940s, the IRA resorted to a series of bombings in England. It also sought assistance from Adolf Hitler to end the British rule in Northern Ireland.
As Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth in 1949, the IRA agitated for the unification of the predominantly Roman Catholic Irish Republic with Protestant Northern Ireland. However, the lack of support in the initial years from the Catholics rendered the sporadic incidents of violence futile. As the Catholics in 1960s began a civil rights campaign against discrimination in voting, housing and employment by the Protestant government and population, the situation changed dramatically. Widespread use of violence from both sides – Loyalists and Unionists, led to the escalation of the situation.
The Decline of IRA
The widespread use of violence led to another split in the IRA in 1969. Following the Sinn Fein conference in Dublin in December 1969, the IRA divided into “Officials” and “Provisional” wings. Although both the factions agreed for a united socialist Irish republic, the former faction preferred parliamentary tactics, however the later faction, called the “Provos” believed that violence was a necessary tactic in the struggle to Northern Ireland’s independence from the British. This faction carried out bombings, assassinations and ambushes in the mainland Britain and eventually in continental Europe, beginning in the 1970 to 1998, the period which came to be known as the “Troubles”.
The decline of the IRA began as the leaders of Sinn Fein sought ways to end the armed struggle and bring republicans into democratic politics. The IRA was convinced by the Irish and British governments that a ceasefire would be rewarded with participation in multi-party talks and hence in August 1994, it declared a “complete cessation” of all its activities. However, Sinn Fein was not included in the deliberations due to the demand of the decommissioning of the IRA by the Unionists. The dissatisfaction was channelled through violence, and in February 1996, bombings were evident in London.
The Good Friday Agreement, April 1998
The deliberations were resumed in September 1997, between the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, Ulster Unionist Party, the Progressive Unionist Party, the Ulster Democratic Party and the Irish and the British governments, with the political representatives of IRA upholding the principles of non-violence. The focus was on the decommission of the paramilitary weapons and the formation of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.
The talks resulted in the Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement in April 1998. The agreement was endorsed by the people in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in referenda held in May 1998. The terms for new power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, the decommissioning of the IRA and other steps to normalize the cross-community relations were agreed upon. However, it did not grant independence to Northern Ireland from Britain, with Republicans agreeing that the province to remain a part of the United Kingdom as long as majority of the population desired. The terms of the peace agreement could not be applied in its entirety due to the resistance of the IRA to decommission its entire armoury. With IRA formally ordering the end of its armed campaign and to engage with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD)
Towards decommissioning
Decommissioning, in the context of the Irish Peace Process, referred to the handover or verified disposal of weapons by paramilitary groups. The issue proved to be a stumbling block in conflict resolution, with the Unionists demanding decommissioning as a confidence-building measure. In August 1997, an Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) was established.
From 2001 onwards, the decommissioning process gained impetus. On 26 September 2005, John de Chastelain, the retired Canadian General responsible for overseeing the decommissioning process, remarked: “The decommissioning of the IRA is now an accomplished fact. This can be the end of the use of the gun in Irish politics.”
In September 2005, the British PM welcomed the decommissioning of the Provisional IRA and said: “We have made an important step in the transition from conflict to peace in Northern Ireland.” Within the next decade, there was not only the decommissioning of the arms of the IRA but of other paramilitary organisations involved in the Irish Freedom Struggle as well. The official remit of the IICD came to an end in February 2010. However, peace in Northern Ireland is fragile, as some of the splinter groups of the IRA are still active, and dissatisfaction against the British government, however dormant, persists.
About the author
Pummy Lathigara is a Postgraduate student at Department of International Relations, Pandit Deendayal Energy University
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