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July 28, 2005

IAUC: US Urged To Respond To IRA Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

U.S. URGED TO PROMOTE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT IN RESPONSE TO
IRA ANNOUNCEMENT

Washington, DC July 28, 2005 — In a statement issued July
28, 2005, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) pledged to dump
all its weapons and to exclusively use political means to
achieve its goals of a united Ireland. The Irish Americans
Unity Conference (IAUC) implores the Bush Administration
and Congress to respond to this historic breakthrough that
signals the end of thirty-five years of conflict in
Northern Ireland.

The IRA statement said in part: "All IRA units have been
ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed
to assist the development of purely political and
democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means.
Volunteers must not engage in any other activities
whatsoever.

"The IRA leadership has also authorised our representative
to engage with the IICD to complete the process to
verifiably put its arms beyond use in a way which will
further enhance public confidence and to conclude this as
quickly as possible.

"We have invited two independent witnesses, from the
Protestant and Catholic churches, to testify to this."

In a statement responding to this development, Retired
Judge Andrew Somers, president of the IAUC, said:

"We encourage the U.S. government to resume a leadership
role in the peace process. Based on the IRA's long-term
cease-fire and its recent statement, we believe that the US
should encourage Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party to
work within the context of the Northern Irish Assembly.

"If the DUP is not willing to sit in government with all
the duly elected parties, then the U.S. government must
encourage the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to
take over the temporary administration of Northern Ireland.
That joint authority should, in our opinion, continue until
the elected representatives agree to work within the
framework of the Northern Irish Assembly that was
democratically approved in 1998 in the Good Friday
Agreement.

"Based on the IRA's substantial and significant
commitments, the Good Friday Agreement should be fully
implemented by the British and Irish governments with no
more excuses. The sections needing urgent attention
include the following:

:: putting into service all the cross border administrative
provisions,

:: demilitarizing the border counties, and

:: completing the policing reforms included in the Patten
Commission's Report."

The full IRA statement can be found at:
http://www.iauc.org/ira07-05.htm

# # #

The Irish American Unity Conference is a non-partisan, non-
sectarian, American based human rights organization working
for peace and justice for the people of the six counties in
the north of Ireland.

Contact: Deanna Turner

IRISH AMERICAN UNITY CONFERENCE
National Office
611 Pennsylvania Ave, SE #4150
Washington, D.C. 20003

Tel: 1-800-947-4282
Fax: 1-248-671-0429
Email: iauc@iauc.org
Web: http://www.iauc.org


IAUC Press & Publicity Officer, Jay Dooling can be reached
by email at: rdooling@swbell.net
Posted by: Unknown / 9:28 AM
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