FIRST MINISTER Peter Robinson has demanded that a list of all the weapons decommissioned by paramilitary organisations be published after Gen John de Chastelain’s disarmament body yesterday said no such inventory is to be published at present.
Gen de Chastelain presented the final report of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning to the British and Irish governments yesterday, but there was no publication of an inventory of arms, as was expected and previously indicated by Gen de Chastelain.
The Independent Monitoring Commission also presented its final report to the British and Irish governments yesterday.
The commission justified the non-disclosure to the two governments of arms decommissioned by groups such as the IRA, the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Ulster Defence Association on the grounds that it “would be unhelpful to the peace process”.
It argued that it could lead to attacks on groups who had decommissioned and discourage future acts of decommissioning by groups currently involved in violence, such as dissident republican organisations. It said it could also discourage groups who had decommissioned from coming forward with weapons which were subsequently discovered.
The commission said that “providing details now of what paramilitary arms have been put beyond use, could, in our opinion, encourage attacks on those groups which have taken risks for peace”.
“This is true of both loyalists and republican paramilitary groups. We would not wish, inadvertently, to discourage future decommissioning events by groups that are actively engaged today, nor to deter groups that have decommissioned their arms from handing over any arms that may subsequently come to light,” it added.
It accepted that there was an understanding that it would provide inventories to the two governments, indicated that that would happen eventually, but said that to do so now would not assist the peace process.
It said it had made arrangements for the records to be safely held in the US state department in Washington DC. The department would “hold them securely until such time as the British and Irish governments make a joint written request for them – when they consider it appropriate to do so, taking into consideration the prevailing circumstances and the issues we have identified here”.
Northern Secretary Owen Paterson said: “This was rightly a decision taken independently by the commission,” he said.
Mr Robinson was critical of the non-disclosure decision, pointing out that between 2002 and 2004 the then British Labour direct rule minister Jane Kennedy on at least four occasions told the House of Commons inventories would be provided to the two governments when the commission finished its work.
“It is vital that the public gets to see just how much terrorist weaponry has been decommissioned,” said Mr Robinson. “The public has a right to know what has been achieved and I would urge the Secretary of State to ensure the inventory, which should have been passed to our government and the Government of the Irish Republic is published,” he added.