Republican Sinn Fein calls for No vote

Republican Sinn Fein has called on people, both North and South of the Border, to campaign energetically for a No vote in the forthcoming referendums on the peace agreement.

In an Easter statement, it said the deal would result in a "new, reinforced Stormont" which "will be much more difficult to remove than the old, corrupt regime which was brought down by the people's struggle in 1972".

It said the peace process was neither "a stepping stone" nor "a transition to Irish national independence. In reality, it is the updating and strengthening of English rule here through a new Stormont."

It said the "most dangerous aspect of these proposals is that those who work them will be required to support their implementation on the ground by actively opposing all who continue the struggle for Irish freedom". It expressed particular concern at a proposal to have a new Northern police force, 40 per cent of which would be made up of recruits from a nationalist background.

It also noted "the continuing campaign of the Continuity Irish Republican Army who, by their activities, have brought to the notice of the British government and all concerned the fact that English rule in Ireland is being resisted and always will be resisted, no matter how such rule is camouflaged".

The statement, described as from the leadership of the republican movement, was read out at events to mark the 82nd anniversary of the Easter Rising.

About 150 people attended a commemoration in Dublin, a third of whom took part in a short march to the GPO carrying flags and pikes to mark the bicentenary of the 1798 Rebellion.

Mr Andy Connolly, chairman of the Dublin council of Republican Sinn Fein, said it was important to remember "all those who have given their lives to Irish freedom right up to the present day" and "not those who sold out the Republic".

Mr Liam Cotter, a member from Kerry, said the deal "looks lovely on paper" but it failed to address the republican movement's main demand of British withdrawal from Ireland.

The president of Republican Sinn Fein said that in the peace deal, Irish people were being asked to "turn their backs" on the United Irishmen's objectives of liberty, equality and fraternity. Mr Ruairi O Bradaigh said it was "a sobering thought" that, in the bicentenary year of the 1798 Rebellion, "a well-crafted attempt is being made to update and strengthen British rule in Ireland". He was speaking at a commemorative event in Ballinamuck, Co Longford.

"The United Irishmen were not sectarian but highly political. Let us not fail them now but strive to give to posterity the great gift of an abiding peace based on justice for all Irish people."

The party's vice-president, Mr Des Long, accused the leadership of Sinn Fein and the IRA of splitting the republican movement. "The so-called peace talks will not bring real and lasting peace to our country because they are not tackling the causes of the conflict. We must have the courage to say that the leadership of the Provisionals - for personal and political advancement - have sold out the republican position."