IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Real IRA

On the surface, the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (PIRA) unprecedented apology for its violence over the past 30 years seems to mark a symbolic end to terrorism in Northern Ireland. Yet doubts remain as to the sincerity of the republican commitment to abstain from violence, especially given the strength of sectarian feeling in the area. Further, the PIRA's involvement in the peace process might reopen old wounds and provoke its hardline splinter groups, namely the Real IRA (RIRA.)

The Irish Republican paramilitary group, the RIRA, a.k.a. Oglaigh na hEireann, emerged when dissidents began to split from the PIRA in 1997. The dissenters denounced the old leadership of PIRA and Sinn Fein (SF), named from the Irish Gaelic expression "we ourselves," for betraying republicanism by their gradual move toward a peace strategy. SF, the Irish Republican party affiliated with PIRA, is committed to the unification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland and breaking all ties with the United Kingdom. The dissenters opposed PIRA's cease-fires of 1994 and 1997, as well as SF's support of the Belfast agreement (more commonly known as the Good Friday agreement), which invoked the Mitchell principles of democracy and non-violence. The dissensions in the republican movement came to a head at a convention of senior PIRA leaders at Gweedore, Co Donegal in October 1997. After heated debate, one of the leaders, hardliner Michael McKevitt, resigned from his position as quartermaster general. McKevitt's defection was significant because for 10 years he had been PIRA's quartermaster general in charge of procuring and storing war material. As quartermaster general, he had helped to make PIRA the best armed terrorist organization in Western Europe.

Led by McKevitt and other senior PIRA officials, the dissidents who resigned from the mainstream republican movement eventually regrouped in order to set up a new organization, RIRA. The RIRA released a statement that the cease-fire was over and they would continue the armed struggle. RIRA's membership includes 100-200 activists plus other republican sympathizers and PIRA hardliners dissatisfied with the cease-fire. Among the 30 experienced operators recruited from the PIRA are some of its top bomb-makers and terrorist tacticians. The group's ultimate objective is the disruption of the peace process and the unification of northern and southern Ireland.

One of the group's more immediate goals is to embarrass the SF leadership as it become involved in the peace process by showing that the party has failed to deliver peace.

It is strongly suspected that the RIRA is the military wing of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee (32CSC), established in December 1997, which strives for the full independence of 26 counties in the Irish Republic and the six counties of Northern Ireland. 32CSC's is led by Bernadette McKevitt, wife to Michael McKevitt, and other ex-SF members. The party has declared that membership in the 32CSC is incompatible with membership in the SF.

One of RIRA's early tactics was to attack Northern Ireland's economic infrastructure by setting off bombs in town centers. This practice led to the Omagh massacre, the single bloodiest incident in Northern Ireland's 30-year history of partisan conflict. The attack occurred on Aug. 15, 1998, killing 29 and injuring 220 people. The intense public outrage over the Omagh bombing, from both the pro-British Protestant and pro-Irish Catholic communities, forced the RIRA to suspend its activities. Within days, they issued a statement declaring the suspension of their military operations.

The cease-fire, however, did not last long and the RIRA re-emerged in February 2000. The group changed tactics, as the public's condemnation of the Omagh bombing had shown that massive civilian casualties were counterproductive to their cause. The bombing had indiscriminately killed Catholic and Protestant civilians alike, and thus RIRA had alienated the very Catholic community from which they needed support.

Their revised tactics have led them to target police and military installations as well as the United Kingdom mainland. RIRA has carried out a campaign of "barrack buster attacks" on military and police bases. In 2000 and 2001, the terrorists began their attacks in London, including a bomb attack on Hammersmith Bridge, explosions at BBC Television Centre and MI-6's headquarters, a series of bomb attacks on a north London postal depot, and an explosion in Ealing Broadway, also in London, in August 2001.

The future of RIRA remains uncertain. On May 16, 2001, the U.S. State Department designated RIRA as a foreign terrorist organization and thus froze its financial assets, banned American support for RIRA and denied its members visas. Condemnation on their homeland has also been severe, as the Omagh atrocity turned the public and the media against those perceived to have RIRA links. British and Irish authorities arrested at least 40 RIRA members in the spring and summer of 2001, including leader McKevitt. He is currently imprisoned in the Irish Republic and is standing trial for being a member of a terrorist organization and directing terrorist attacks.

It is important to realize, however, that these facts do not imply the silencing and elimination of RIRA. Their extreme, fundamentalist Republican ideology leads the group toward the single-minded goal of undermining the Good Friday agreement and British withdrawal. RIRA justifies their armed resistance and historical mandate for violence by an appeal to the Declaration of Independence of 1919, the failed republican attempt at Irish independence before the final Partition of Ireland in 1920. The Irish conflict, like other decades-long ethno-social conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, is a complex one that cannot be simply reconciled.

References

U.S. Department of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001.

Ed. Whitaker, David J, The Terrorism Reader, London, England: Routledge, 2001, p. 89-107.

Boyne, Sean, "The Real IRA: after Omagh, what now?," Jane's Europe News, June 24, 1998.

Felstead, Peter, "Bush designates Real IRA as terrorists," Jane's International Security News, May 17, 2001.

Hancock, Landon, Northern Ireland: Troubles Brewing, Background Essay on the Northern Ireland Conflict.

Wright, Robin, "The Changing Face of Islam; The Chilling Goal of Islam's New Warriors," The Los Angeles Times, p. A1, Dec. 28, 2000.

"Paramilitaries-The Real IRA/32-County Sovereignty Committee," BBC History.

 

By Monica Anatalio CDI Research Assistant

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