Inquiry demanded on security force collusion

A fresh call was issued today for a wide-ranging public inquiry into the murders of 400 Catholics in the North alleged to have…

A fresh call was issued today for a wide-ranging public inquiry into the murders of 400 Catholics in the North alleged to have involved British security forces.

The subject is to debated in the Stormont Assembly in a motion demanding an inquiry with similar powers to the Bloody Sunday tribunal currently sitting in Derry.

It has been proposed by Sinn Féin Assembly member Mrs Mary Nelis, who said: "If we are to have confidence in the future, we have to know the truth."

The debate on Tuesday comes at a time of intensifying pressure for inquiries into the murders of solicitors Mr Pat Finucane and Ms Rosemary Nelson and of Mr Robert Hamill.

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Mrs Nelis, who represents Foyle, said allegations of security force collusion and cover-ups surrounded many other killings dating back to the earliest years of the conflict.

"There are a large number of relatives out there who have never been given any explanation as to why their loved ones died or were murdered.

"Some have yet to have an inquest."

Yesterday relatives of Mr Finucane warned nationalist leaders against accepting a watered down inquiry into the killing as part of any deal to secure their backing for new policing arrangements.

In a letter to Mr Tony Blair, they insisted they would accept nothing less than an inquiry on the scale of Bloody Sunday investigation, which has cost more than £30 million since it was established three years ago.

Persistent allegations of collusion have surrounded the murder of Mrs Nelson who died in a car bomb explosion in Lurgan, Co Armagh, in 1999.

And the killing of Mr Hamill, who was kicked to death in the centre of Portadown, Co Armagh, two years earlier has been likened by campaigners to the Stephen Lawrence affair.

Mrs Nelis said the Stevens inquiry was failing in its task and a more powerful judicial public probe would be the only way of exposing what had really gone on.

"This issue of collusion has been ongoing since the 1970s. This now 2001. It is not going to go away."

PA