Rira

RIRA

On the surface, Irish Republican Army's apology for its violence over the past 30 years seems to mark a symbolic end to terrorism in Northern Ireland. But doubts remain as to the sincerity of the republican commitment to stay away from violence, especially given the strength of sectarian feeling in the area. Also, the IRA's involvement in the peace process might reopen old wounds and provoke its splinter groups, namely the Real IRA (RIRA.)

The Irish Republican paramilitary group, the RIRA, a.k.a. Oglaigh na hEireann, came about when dissidents began to split from the IRA in 1997. The dissenters denounced the old leadership of IRA and Sinn Fein, named from the Irish Gaelic expression "we ourselves," for betraying republicanism by their slow move towards a peace strategy. SF, the Irish Republican party affiliated with IRA, is committed to the unification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland and breaking all ties with the United Kingdom. The dissenters opposed IRA's cease-fires of 1994 and 1997, as well as SF's support of the Belfast agreement more commonly known as the Good Friday agreement. The dissensions in the republican movement came to a head at a convention of senior IRA leaders at Gweedore, Co Donegal in October 1997. After heated debate, one of the leaders, Michael McKevitt, resigned from his position as quartermaster general. McKevitt's defection was significant because for 10 years he had been IRA's quartermaster general in charge of producing and storing war material. As quartermaster general, he had helped to make IRA the best armed terrorist organization in Western Europe.

Led by McKevitt and other senior IRA officials, the dissidents who resigned from the mainstream republican movement eventually regrouped in order to set up a new organization, RIRA. The RIRA released a statement that the cease-fire was over and they would continue the armed struggle. RIRA's membership includes 100-200 activists plus other republican sympathizers and IRA members dissatisfied with the cease-fire. Among the 30 experienced operators recruited from the IRA are some of its top bomb-makers and terrorist tacticians. The group's ultimate objective is the disruption of the peace process and the unification of northern and southern Ireland.

One of the group's more immediate goals is to embarrass the SF leadership as it become involved in the peace process by showing that the party has failed to deliver peace.

It is strongly suspected that the RIRA is the military wing of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, established in December 1997, which strives for the independence of 26 counties in the Irish Republic and the six counties of Northern Ireland. 32CSC's is led by Bernadette McKevitt, wife to Michael McKevitt, and other ex-SF members. The party has declared that membership in the 32CSC is incompatible with membership in the SF.

One of RIRA's early tactics was to attack Northern Ireland's economic infrastructure by setting off bombs in town centers. This led to the Omagh massacre, the most deadlest incident in Northern Ireland's 30-year history of conflict. The attack occurred on Aug. 15, 1998, killing 29 and injuring 220 people. The public outrage over the Omagh bombing, from both the pro-British Protestant and pro-Irish Catholic communities, forced the RIRA to suspend its activities. Within days, they issued a statement declaring the suspension of their military operations.

The cease-fire, however, did not last long and the RIRA re-emerged in February 2000. The group changed tactics, as the public's condemnation of the Omagh bombing had shown that massive civilian casualties were counterproductive to their cause. The bombing had indiscriminately killed Catholic and Protestant civilians alike,