IRA says armed campaign is over

IRA KEY POINTS OF STATEMENT

• All IRA units ordered to dump arms
• Members ordered to pursue objectives through "exclusively peaceful means"
• Arms to be put beyond use as quickly as possible
• Two church witnesses to verify this
• Statement followed "honest and forthright" consultation process
• Strong support among IRA members for Sinn Fein's peace strategy
• There is now an alternative way to achieve goal of united Ireland
• "Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever"

IRA statement in full
Reaction to IRA statement

QUICK GUIDE Northern Ireland conflict

The IRA has formally ordered an end to its armed campaign and says it will pursue exclusively peaceful means.
In a long-awaited statement, the republican organisation said it would follow a democratic path ending more than 30 years of violence.
The IRA made its decision after an internal debate prompted by Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams' call to pursue its goals exclusively through politics.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was a "step of unparalleled magnitude".
"It is what we have striven for and worked for throughout the eight years since the Good Friday Agreement," he said.
"It creates the circumstances in which the institutions can be revived."
During the NI Troubles, the IRA was blamed for about 1,800 murders.
A statement issued on Thursday said that this would take effect from 1600 BST.
"All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever.
"The IRA leadership has also authorised our representative to engage with the IICD to complete the process to verifiably put its arms beyond use in a way which will further enhance public confidence and to conclude this as quickly as possible."
The statement said independent witnesses from Catholic and Protestant churches had been invited to see the decommissioning process.
DUP leader Ian Paisley greeted the statement with scepticism, saying that the IRA had "reverted to type" after previous "historic" statements.
"We will judge the IRA's bona fides over the next months and years based on its behaviour and activity," he said.
He said they had also "failed to provide the transparency necessary to truly build confidence that the guns have gone in their entirety".
Ulster Unionist Party Sir Reg Empey, told the BBC's World at One it would take time to convince the people of Northern Ireland that this was more than just rhetoric.
He said: "People are so sceptical, having had... been burnt so many times before.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan welcomed the statement, saying it was "clear, clean and complete", but "long overdue".
He called on Sinn Fein to commit to the new policing structures in Northern Ireland, as his party had done.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he welcomes the IRA's statement that it was ending its "armed campaign".
Mr Ahern said the end of the IRA as a paramilitary group "is the outcome the governments have been working towards" since the 1994 ceasefire.
He added: "If the IRA's words are borne out by verified actions, it will be a momentous and historic development."
Denis Bradley, vice chairman of the Policing Board, said the statement was "saying the war was over" and people needed to acknowledge the clarity of it.
"This is enormous within the history of this island," Mr Bradley said.
"Will Sinn Fein now take their responsibility and their place in policing and justice?" he asked.
When he made his appeal in April, Mr Adams said it was "a genuine attempt to drive the peace process forward".
Republicans had been under intense pressure to end IRA activity after the £26.5m Northern Bank raid in December and the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney in January.
Political talks last year failed to restore devolution, which stalled amid claims of IRA intelligence gathering at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, in 2002.
The Provisional IRA's campaign of violence was aimed at forcing an end to the British presence in Northern Ireland, leading to a united Ireland.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/4720863.stm