[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 259 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 259

 Urging the decommissioning of arms and explosives in Northern Ireland.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 24, 2000

Mr. Helms (for himself and Mr. Smith of Oregon) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Urging the decommissioning of arms and explosives in Northern Ireland.

Whereas the Good Friday Agreement was signed on April 10, 1998, to bring about a 
        peaceful settlement to the conflict in Northern Ireland;
Whereas in a referendum on May 22, 1998, the people of Northern Ireland and the 
        Republic of Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Good Friday 
        Agreement;
Whereas the Good Friday Agreement provides for the devolution of government from 
        the United Kingdom to local institutions in Northern Ireland and the 
        establishment of a North/South Ministerial Council and a British-Irish 
        Council, and consists of provisions on decommissioning, human rights, 
        policing, and prisoners;
Whereas much progress has been made in the establishment of both the indigenous 
        Northern Ireland institutions and the North/South and British-Irish 
        bodies, hundreds of prisoners from both communities have been released, 
        and a plan for the restructuring of the police force has been put forth;
Whereas the Independent international Commission on Decommissioning (the 
        Commission), led by General John de Chastelain, was established to 
        facilitate the process of decommissioning of paramilitary arms as called 
        for in the Good Friday Agreement;
Whereas the two principal loyalist paramilitary organizations, the Ulster 
        Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), informed 
        the Commission that they are prepared to move on decommissioning if the 
        Irish Republican Army (IRA) makes clear that the war is over and it will 
        also decommission;
Whereas the Commission's January 31, 2000, report on decommissioning states that 
        though the IRA emphasized that it poses no threat to the peace process, 
        it has not provided any information as to when decommissioning will 
        begin;
Whereas the leader of the Social Democratic and Labor Party, John Hume, has 
        called upon the IRA to ``demonstrate for all to see its patriotism and 
        desire to move the situation forward by strengthening the peace process 
        through beginning voluntarily the process of decommissioning'';
Whereas on February 11, 2000, due to the decommissioning impasse, the British 
        Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson, suspended the 
        Northern Ireland Executive and resumed direct control over the province;
Whereas on February 11, 2000, the Commission issued a report noting the ``IRA's 
        recognition that the issue of arms needs to be dealt with in an 
        acceptable way and that this is a necessary objective of a genuine peace 
        process'';
Whereas recent polls indicate that the overwhelming majority of the people in 
        Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland support decommissioning by 
        all paramilitary organizations: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) stresses the importance of decommissioning of weapons 
        held by paramilitaries on all sides without conditions to the 
        success of the peace process in Northern Ireland;
            (2) calls upon the Irish Republican Army to make a firm 
        commitment and offer a specific timetable as to when 
        decommissioning of all of their arms and explosives will begin; 
        and
            (3) urges the loyalist paramilitary organizations to 
        respond to such an IRA proposal by immediately beginning the 
        process of decommissioning all of their weapons.
                                 <all>