The IRA statement concerning an attempted importation of arms from the United States and the murder of Charles Bennett in Belfast has all the appearance of weasel words. As a result of a "preliminary investigation", the IRA has concluded the Army Council did not sanction any arms importation operation and - in relation to the murder of Mr Bennett - there has been no breach of the IRA cessation. It did not specifically deny that IRA members had been involved in the arms smuggling affair or in the killing of Mr Bennett, but it sought to distance the organisation from both events.
The statement may have been designed to take some pressure off Sinn Fein and Mr Gerry Adams. But it prompted a universal rejection from unionist parties. Mr Ken Maginnis of the UUP dismissed the statement as containing "damned lies" that should be treated with contempt. The leader of the DUP, the Rev Ian Paisley, said the only conclusion that could be reached was that the IRA ceasefire was conditional. In Dublin, the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, repeated his demand that the two governments state their joint understanding of the relationship between Sinn Fein and the IRA and specify what penalties and sanctions would be imposed if the non-violent principles in the Belfast Agreement were breached. The Government declined to respond.
Those committed to the Belfast Agreement are under the greatest pressure at the present time following the stalling of political progress last month. Mr David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party has received death threats from loyalist groupings. Mr Adams' leadership is under strain within republican areas. And Mr David Trimble's leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party is still uncertain. Lack of trust between the two communities and an inability, or an unwillingness, of political leaders to "jump together" on the twin issues of arms decommissioning and the formation of an executive, have bedevilled the process. Something extra is clearly required to rebuild confidence that the Belfast Agreement can work. Mary Holland has suggested in this newspaper that the challenge now extends to church leaders, business people and to all members of civil society. They must argue the case for courage and risk-taking, she said, rather than holding back in fear.
The only positive element in the IRA's statement was an insistence that its cessation remains intact. Even there, the interpretation of "cessation" clearly did not go so far as to embrace the Mitchell principles. The IRA, in common with loyalist paramilitary organisations, has continued to engage in punishment beatings, shootings, and the occasional murder within its own "operational areas". The cessation appears to relate only to attacks upon the security forces and to its suspended bombing campaign.
It will fall to former US Senator George Mitchell to examine these and other related issues in his review of the Belfast Agreement which will get under way next month. It will be a difficult and onerous task. And there is little room for manoeuvre. In those circumstances, both Mr Mitchell and the parties to the Belfast Agreement will need all the encouragement and support they can get from the wider community. A political impasse may have encouraged paramilitary organisations to engage in gross, undemocratic behaviour. But a return to large-scale, intercommunal violence must be avoided.