Clergy say IRA decommissioning methods can serve as model for others

Published: 2005-09-27

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- The methods used in decommissioning the Irish Republican Army's paramilitary arsenal can serve as a model for peacekeepers elsewhere in the world, said the two clergymen who witnessed the destruction of thousands of guns and hundreds of pounds of explosives. Father Alex Reid, a member of the Redemptorist peace mission in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the Rev. Harold Good, a former president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, acted as independent witnesses to the destruction of handguns, rifles, automatic weapons, machine guns, surface-to-air missiles, grenade launchers, explosives and bomb-making equipment. The priest and minister witnessed the activities of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, set up in 1998 following the Good Friday Agreement. At a press conference in Belfast Sept. 26, Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain, commission head, said he believes IRA members have put their weapons beyond use. Rev. Good read a joint statement in which the two clergymen supported the general's report.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .