VARIOUS: THE SELF-STYLED REAL IRA GUERILLA GROUP CALLS OFF HOSTILITIES AND EASES PRESSURE ON NORTHERN IRELAND'S PEACE PROCESS

Record ID: 862393

  • Title: VARIOUS: THE SELF-STYLED REAL IRA GUERILLA GROUP CALLS OFF HOSTILITIES AND EASES PRESSURE ON NORTHERN IRELAND'S PEACE PROCESS
  • Date: 8th September 1998
  • Summary: OMAGH, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 16, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) LV/SLV OF DAMAGE AT SCENE (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 23rd September 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: OMAGH, BANBRIDGE, NORTHERN IRELAND; LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM/ DUBLIN, IRISH REPUBLIC
  • City:
  • Country: Irish Republic EUROPE England United Kingdom LATIN AMERICA Northern Ireland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9TWB19EVAMWGI8ATSHKZHPEU0
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The self-styled Real IRA guerrilla group, shunned by all sides for last month's car-bomb carnage, has called off hostilities and eased pressure on Northern Ireland's peace process.

    Renegade republicans whose actions made them outcasts even among former comrades, the Real IRA provoked outrage last month when it killed 29 civilians in the town of Omagh.

    It was the bloodiest day in three decades of conflict and was carried out by extremists who wanted to thwart a vote for peace by majorities on both sides of the Irish border.

    Now the Real IRA, facing a British and Irish security clampdown and reports of threats by the mainstream Irish Republican Army (IRA), has bowed to public fury and called a halt to its violent attacks.

    British and Irish ministers cautiously welcomed the decision, but said it would not stop them in their determination to catch and punish the Omagh bombers.

    The Omagh carbomb was part of a chain of Real IRA attacks designed to derail the deal reached by pro-British Protestant and pro-Irish Catholic parties in April.

    A similar attack in Banbridge just weeks earlier narrowly missed causing extensive casualties.

    But the peace pact has remained on track, buoyed by plaudits from U.S.President Bill Clinton last week and fresh moves by republican and unionist leaders to ease tension.

    Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA whose ceasefire last year paved the way for peace talks, announced new initiatives before Clinton's arrival in the province.

    Leader Gerry Adams repudiated violence and pledged liaison with a commission charged with overseeing the scrapping of guerrilla weapons.
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