SAOIRSE32

smh.com.au

September 15, 2005 - 5:44AM

Colombia has formally requested the extradition of three IRA-linked fugitives who were last year sentenced in absentia to 17 years in jail by a Bogota court for teaching bomb-making to Marxist guerrillas.

Colombia wants James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley extradited to serve their sentences despite the lack of an extradition treaty between Ireland and Colombia.

The trio, who escaped Colombia sometime after December 2004, deny the charges. The men appeared in Ireland in July.

“Last week we sent a request for extradition,” Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco told reporters.

“The Irish government now has everything it needs to make a decision. We have received a response saying the Irish government is interested in studying, very carefully, the possibility of extradition according to Irish law,” she added.

Colombia says the men are members of the Irish Republican Army - which they deny - and Dublin has faced accusations that it allowed them to return as a concession to the outlawed guerrilla group after it pledged in July to end its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.

The government has denied any deal was struck.

Extraditing the three to Colombia would upset nationalists in Northern Ireland, but not doing so would anger pro-British Unionists.

Despite the lack of an extradition treaty, a senior Irish diplomat in Latin America said last week that Ireland was looking for a way to hand the men over.

The three were arrested in 2001 and charged with training members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which the United States has branded a “narco-terrorist” group.

They slipped out of Colombia after being acquitted by a local court, but a higher court quashed their acquittal in December 2004 and sentenced them in their absence.

The trio admit to meeting the FARC and spending several weeks near a large guerrilla camp. But they said they were there to learn about peace talks, which subsequently collapsed.

Daily Ireland

Ciarán Barnes

Reports show that in areas such as community infrastructure, employment opportunities and education, Catholics still fare much worse than Protestants

Official statistics compiled by a range of agencies over the past year challenge the assertions of unionist politicians that the recent outbreak of loyalist violence can be attributed to inequality in Protestant areas.
Reports by the Department for Social Development (DSD), Equality Commission and Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) reveal Catholic areas still suffer more deprivation than their Protestant counterparts.

The reports show that in areas such as community infrastructure, employment opportunities and education, Catholics still fare much worse than Protestants.

Catholic children are also more likely to have jobless parents, suffer long-term unemployment and earn less.
Although acknowledging the deprivation faced by many Protestant areas, SDLP MLA Alban Maginnis last night questioned unionism’s leaders on their response to the difficulties faced.

His comments came as Belfast students gathered in Coláiste Feirste on the Falls Road to receive educational bursaries as part of the Aisling Award programme. A boost to students wanting to further their educations, the award programme is now in its sixth year.

It is organised by the West Belfast Partnership Board and the Andersonstown News Group, Daily Ireland’s parent company.

More than £200,000 (€296,000) has been awarded to over 200 students in west Belfast, one of the most deprived areas in the North.

BBC

Traffic leaving Belfast has been disrupted by protesters

Loyalist protesters have been blocking roads at rush-hour across Belfast for a third consecutive evening.

Streets remain blocked at Shankill Road, Crumlin Road, Donegall Road, Ballygomartin Road and Seymour Hill.

The Westlink and Broadway Roundabout, Twaddell Avenue, Boucher Road and Blacks Road are now clear but traffic is said to be heavy in the city.

Evening bus services from Shankill to Ligoniel and Carlisle Circus to Carrs Glenn have also been withdrawn.

Translink said its other services were expected to operate as normal on most routes following the disturbances which have affected Belfast and other areas.

It said all passengers wishing to use these services should contact the call centre on 028 90666630 or consult its website before they travel.

Meanwhile in north Belfast, a child was injured after the window of a school bus was broken.

Translink and the police are investigating the incident, which happened on Crumlin Road on Wednesday afternoon.

It is believed the girl, a pupil at Castle High School, was injured when the rear window of the vehicle was broken. It is not known if she was seriously hurt.

During violence at the weekend, three buses costing about £500,000 were destroyed by rioters and Translink cancelled some evening services.

Smaller scale

There were a number of attacks on the police on Tuesday, but not on the scale of the previous three nights.

The trouble, mainly in loyalist areas, was sparked by the re-routing of an Orange Order parade on Saturday.

On Tuesday night, a police officer was slightly burned when a petrol bomb was thrown at a Land Rover on Longstone Street in Lisburn, County Antrim.

Petrol bombs and two blast bombs were also thrown at New Barnsley police station in west Belfast.

A petrol bomb was also thrown at Mountpottinger police station in east Belfast.

On Tuesday, the outlawed loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) said the violence should stop.

Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde has blamed the UDA and UVF for being behind the trouble.

During violence in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland on Monday, 10 police officers were injured.

Sixty people have been arrested for public order offences and three in connection with serious terrorist offences. Police said that more arrests would be made.

Unionists said there had been a build-up of resentment within their community because of the government’s handling of the peace process.

Trouble began in the city on Saturday after the Parades Commission refused to change their decision to allow the Orange Order’s Whiterock parade to pass through a nationalist section of Springfield Road.

Sinn Féin

Published: 14 September, 2005

Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly commenting on incidents in the Short Strand including one in which a man was injured on Monday night said:

“I am aware of incidents in the Short Strand on Monday night including one in which one man received a head wound. These incidents benefit no one in the Short Strand. Sinn Féin was in no way involved but is encouraging mediation to deal with these disputes.

“Sinn Féin is totally opposed to intimidation of any type no matter where it comes from or who it is aimed at. Intimidation is wrong and should not be happening.” ENDS

BreakingNews.ie

14/09/2005 - 10:29:33

The Orange Order has refused to apologise for the loyalist riots in the North over the past few days, despite being blamed by the PSNI for sparking the violence.

Speaking at a press conference today, Orange Order Grand Master Robert Saulters described the trouble as a cry of desperation from the Protestant community.

The riots, which left scores of police officers injured, was sparked by an Orange parade that was banned from the nationalist Springfield Road.

Mr Saulters today refused to apologise for the order’s decision to call on as many people as possible to attend the march as a protest against the re-routing, saying that would not be fair.

He also accused the PSNI of brutality during the violence and said the police and the British Government were both telling lies about the situation.

BBC

Thomas Devlin was murdered in a knife attack

Two men have been arrested in connection with the murder of a teenager in north Belfast last month, police have said.

Thomas Devlin, 15, was stabbed five times as he and two friends walked along Somerton Road on 10 August.

His 18-year-old friend was injured in the attack, but not seriously. A 16-year-old boy managed to escape.

Police have not released any more details about the men being questioned in connection with the murder.

Thomas, a student at Belfast Royal Academy, was a talented musician who played the horn at school.

He had just bought sweets from a nearby shop and was on his way home when he was stabbed in the back five times.

Guardian

· McCartney sister says loyalist riots used as cover
· Attack calls into question pledge to end violence

Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Wednesday September 14, 2005
The Guardian

IRA men involved in the murder of Robert McCartney used the cover of loyalist riots to severely beat his best friend, it was claimed last night.

Jess Commander, 34, was beaten with iron bars and sewer rods similar to those used to murder his friend in January, after he was ambushed by a gang of seven men while walking home with his wife. At one stage one of them allegedly produced a knife. He was taken to hospital and treated for head injuries.

The McCartney family said IRA members were involved and some of the attackers had helped to murder their brother or played a role in the cover-up. The attack calls into question the IRA’s announcement seven weeks ago that it had ceased all “activity”, further weakening a peace process strained after three nights of the worst violence in Northern Ireland for more than 10 years.

The manner of the attack, and the beating of another of Mr McCartney’s relatives late on Monday night as the nationalist Short Strand had a third night under siege from loyalist mobs, outraged local Catholics. The family, whose campaign for justice sparked international outrage and garnered support at the White House, said they were being forced to move out of the Short Strand after intimidation by republicans and attacks on their homes.

During the three nights of loyalist mayhem in east Belfast, the tiny Catholic enclave of Short Strand has been under attack from gangs of men throwing bricks and petrol bombs over the peace wall. The IRA has kept a presence on street corners. But the McCartney family said that on Monday night, IRA men blamed for McCartney’s murder turned up outside his fiancee Bridgeen Hagans’ home for the third evening in a row. A relative, Gerard Cooley, asked them to move on and a fight broke out during which he was beaten with a martial arts flick-stick baton. A crowd of around 100 onlookers gathered.

It was after the crowd dispersed that Mr Commander, who the McCartneys said had tried to quell the disturbance, was ambushed and beaten on a quiet footpath.

Paula McCartney said: “It was attempted murder. They produced a knife. He sustained serious head injuries. They were not aiming to maim.”

She claimed republicans attempted to intimidate the Commander family within hours of the attack, and said the attackers changed their clothes in the same house used in the clean-up operation on the night of her brother’s murder. “The [Commander] family were visited and advised not to speak to the press. They are angry. I had predicted that it would happen again. This is what these people do. They want to beat people into silence.”

She added: “I can’t live in a community where it is perfectly acceptable for murderers to be supposedly marshalling the area. The people of the area don’t want murderers protecting them.”

Police said they were investigating the assault. The inquiry into McCartney’s murder has been frustrated by witnesses’ fear of republican retribution. One man is on bail for McCartney’s murder, and another is on bail for the attempted murder of his friend Brendan Devine.

Gerry Kelly of Sinn Féin said: “The last thing the Short Strand needs is individuals fighting … There was no republican involvement. In fact [this] incident was not political in nature. Sinn Féin has called for mediation to deal with such disputes.”

Alasdair McDonnell, SDLP MP for Belfast South, said: “It is absolutely clear that the provisional movement’s fingerprints are all over this attack as they are all over the sustained campaign of intimidation which has gone on ever since Robert’s murder. The family is clear that one person involved in this attack was also involved in the murder.

“It has to stop.The way the McCartney family and those associated with them are treated is an absolute benchmark for judging the provisional movement’s intentions of following its July statement. The brutal attack on this man is a clear breach of that statement’s instruction to provisional volunteers.”

Irish Independent

HUNDREDS of children became VIPs for the day, escorted by almost 700 taxis, a cavalcade of Garda motorbikes and a host of celebrities en route to the annual taxi drivers’ special children’s outing yesterday.

More than 650 taxi drivers and 1,400 children with special needs from across Dublin partied on Parnell Square and at Club 92 in Leopardstown to mark the anniversary of an event which began 46 years ago with just two taxis and three children.

The event is made possible by taxi drivers who give up a day’s fares to take children from 44 centres around Dublin to the annual day of fun, according to taxi driver and event organiser Tom Colgan.

“A lot of taxi drivers come back year after year and a lot like myself have been doing it for 26 years. A lot of new drivers are getting involved and you will see a lot of women taxi drivers here today as well,” Mr Colgan explained.

After the Garda Siochana brass band, the cavalcade of motorbikes and almost 700 taxis carrying 1,400 children brought traffic to a standstill on O’Connell St and surrounding areas, they drove across to Club 92 in Leopardstown.

On arrival, 60 taxi drivers who had been preparing the dinners since 4.30am yesterday treated them to an afternoon feast, while organisers admitted they have already begun planning next year’s event.

Aine Kerr

BBC

The government no longer recognises the UVF ceasefire

The government has announced it no longer recognises the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as being on ceasefire.

The decision to “specify” the UVF and Red Hand Commando (RHC) was made by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain.

Mr Hain was given a report from the Independent Monitoring Commission on the UVF’s feud with the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) last week.

The UVF has also been blamed for orchestrating riots following the cancellation of an Orange Order parade.

Loyalists clashed with police at the weekend following the cancellation of the parade in Whiterock, north Belfast on Saturday.

The UVF has also been linked to four recent murders. The organisation was set up in the late 1960s to fight resurgent Irish nationalism, but it used the name of the original UVF which was created by Sir Edward Carson in 1912 to fight home rule.

Remains active

But far from withering away with the end of the Troubles, the UVF appears to remain active especially in loyalist areas.

“I have reviewed the status of all specified and other paramilitary organisations, as I am obliged to do under legislation, and concluded there are sufficient grounds to specify the UVF/RHC.”
Peter Hain

What is the UVF?

Mr Hain said he now intended to lay an order before parliament to have the decision approved.

“I have reviewed the status of all specified and other paramilitary organisations, as I am obliged to do under legislation, and concluded there are sufficient grounds to specify the UVF/RHC,” he said.

He said the actions of the UVF in respect of their ongoing feud, along with the attacks against the security forces on 10 and 11 September amounted to a breakdown in their ceasefire.

‘Tragic’

David Ervine, whose Progressive Unionist Party is traditionally close to the UVF, said the move by the government was “hardly unexpected”.

He described it as “tragic” and said it would mean there would be more ground to cover once the UVF was restored to the political process.

In July Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said he intended to withhold the PUP’s assembly allowances for another year.

The decision followed the latest report from the Independent Monitoring Commission, which said the UVF and Red Hand Commando remained active, violent and involved in organised crime.

The Independent Monitoring Commission was set up by the British and Irish governments in January 2004.

It is a crucial element in the two governments’ plans for restoring devolution, which was suspended in October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering at the Northern Ireland Office.