Army meeting NI obligations

A new report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) has concluded that the British army is meeting its obligations …

A new report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) has concluded that the British army is meeting its obligations on scaling down its security presence in Northern Ireland, according to well-placed sources.

The ninth report of the IMC presented to the British and Irish governments last night deals with demilitarisation, or normalisation, as it is officially called.

The report found that the British army is meeting its commitments "in terms of timing and planning", said a senior source last night.

"There probably will be complaints from certain quarters but in terms of normalisation it is clear that everything can't be done by tomorrow," the source added.

The report, which also deals with the defortification of certain PSNI stations as additionally pledged in the British government's demilitarisation programme, is expected to be published in the middle of next week.

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Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty is the former Northern editor of The Irish Times