Los representantes del Consejo del Ejército del 'IRA' dijeron:
"Aceptamos plenamente que no podemos derrotar militarmente a los británicos, ni siquiera expulsarlos de Irlanda, pero seguiremos luchando mientras permanezcan aquí. Los ataques son simbólicos. Son propaganda. Mientras estén los británicos en Irlanda y el país siga dividido, habrá un IRA. No importa si los dos gobiernos aprisionan al liderazgo actual. Otros seguirán adelante y pelearán. Ser miembro del IRA nunca fue popular".
"¿Quién no votaría y querría la paz? Pero es como el Brexit. La gente no sabía por qué votaban durante el proceso de paz. Preguntas por qué organizamos acciones armadas. Son simbólicas. Nuestras acciones armadas tienen un propósito. Le dejan saber al mundo que hay un conflicto en curso en Irlanda. Es ingenuo decir que no hay guerra en Irlanda. Ahi esta. Hay una guerra de inteligencia, hay helicópteros en el aire, drones militares volando alrededor de las urbanizaciones en Derry, aviones espías y unidades encubiertas por todos lados"."Condenar al IRA no es nada nuevo. No estamos interesados en ser populares. El republicanismo siempre ha sido un pequeño núcleo de personas. Nunca fue populista. Apoyar la lucha armada nunca fue popular. En 1916, 1.200 personas participaron en el Easter Rising. Los restos de los que sobrevivieron fueron escupidos cuando se los llevaron".
"El Brexit ha obligado al IRA a reenfocarse y ha subrayado cómo Irlanda sigue dividida. Sería negligente para nosotros no aprovechar la oportunidad. Ha puesto la frontera en la agenda de nuevo".
Al referirse a la muerte de Lyra McKee, dicen: "No hay nada que podamos decir que ofrezca ningún consuelo a su familia. Cualquier cosa que digamos suena como una disculpa hueca. No hubo una operación planificada en el Creggan esa noche. Nuestra intención era involucrarnos contra las fuerzas de la corona cuando comenzaron a registrar la casa en el Creggan, lo que llevó a la muerte. Esa pobre mujer quedó atrapada en la violencia de la calle".
The Sunday Times dijo que la entrevista tardó meses en organizarse a través de contactos discretos y reuniones secretas al norte y al sur de la frontera artificial impuesta. Su reportero fue conducido durante aproximadamente una hora en la parte trasera de un vehículo desde un punto de encuentro para realizar la entrevista. En el interior del vehículo no había móviles ni tecnología electrónica.
The Sunday Times dijo que el grupo se negó a hablar sobre su fuerza o si planeaban aumentar los ataques con armas de fuego y bombas.
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Si he entendido bien, the Sunday Times ha dividido el sujeto en dos articulos, el segundo :
"New IRA reveals determination to be a clear and present danger
New IRA says Lyra McKee’s death was a mistake but its attacks will continue
The army council of the New IRA has no doubt whatsoever about the public odium that its campaign of violence engenders. The members say they know the public will not protest if they are “all rounded up” by the security forces and imprisoned, but claim they will continue to carry out “attacks” even though they realise such actions will not bring about their aspiration of a united Ireland.
“We fully accept we cannot defeat the British militarily, or even drive them from Ireland, but we will continue to fight for as long as they remain here. The attacks are symbolic. They are propaganda. As long as you have the British in Ireland and the country remains partitioned, there will be an IRA. It doesn’t matter if the two governments imprison the current leadership, others will still come forward and fight. Being a member of the IRA was never popular.”
The views expressed are those of the New IRA, whose army council sent representatives to be interviewed by The Sunday Times following months of secret meetings and clandestine approaches. The paramilitaries spoke about their opposition to the Good Friday agreement; the opportunity presented by Brexit; and the murder of Lyra McKee, the 29-year-old journalist who was shot dead while observing youths rioting in the Creggan, a staunchly republican area of Derry.
The rise of new IRA
The interviewees described McKee’s death as “shocking” and “something that did nothing to further any cause” but insisted it was an accident that occurred in the midst of a riot.
“There is nothing we can say that will offer any comfort to her family. Anything we may say sounds like a hollow apology. There was no planned [paramilitary] operation in the Creggan that night. It was our intention to engage with the crown forces when they started searching houses in the Creggan that led to the death. That poor woman got caught in the street violence,” said one of the dissidents.
The New IRA, which is an amalgamation of republican gunmen and bombers drawn from various paramilitary groups, announced its existence in July 2012, though some of its members have been involved in terrorism for decades. McKee was its most recent victim but the security services believe it murdered three others before its existence became public. Among them is Ronan Kerr, a 25-year-old police officer who was killed when a bomb exploded under his car in Omagh in 2011.
The frequency of its attacks has increased significantly since December, with many involving young men. A car-bomb attack on a courthouse in Derry was carried out by men aged between 20 and 26 years old. The police believe McKee was shot dead by a teenager.
The group said it opposed the 1998 Good Friday agreement as the deal accepts the British presence and the border, but its leaders also described themselves as anti-imperialists and socialists. Global tech companies, they said, were “sucking the life out of the country”.
The use of violence was justified, they argued, although they accepted there was no public support for it and the majority of people on both sides of the border had voted in favour of peace.
“Who wouldn’t vote and want peace? But it’s like Brexit — people didn’t know what they were voting for during the peace process. You ask why we organise armed actions. They are symbolic. Our actions serve one purpose.
You can call it whatever you want. They let the world know there is an ongoing conflict in Ireland. It’s naive to say there’s no war in Ireland. There is. There’s an intelligence war, there’s helicopters in the air, military drones flying around housing estates in Derry, spy planes and undercover units everywhere,” said one of the dissidents.
“We are not interested in being popular. Republicanism has always been a small core of people. It was never populist. To support armed struggle was never popular. In 1916, 1,200 people took part in the Easter Rising. The remnants of those who survived were spat at as they were led away. The Provisional IRA was never popular,” he added.
Throughout the interview, the dissidents continually referred to themselves as the IRA, or simply the army. Those who attended the meeting refused to discuss their current strength, or whether they planned to increase the frequency of their gun and bomb attacks. “The police provide estimates that we have 200 people but these are not correct. It’s more,” they said, adding there had been a “trickle” of defections from the Provisionals.
“The organisation is driven by young people. Young people are being radicalised because they have no one to turn to. There are no left-wing political parties any more. Sinn Fein don’t represent republicans. They are a centrist party now. Again, we say political movements have become populist. There are no organic political movements which uphold Irish sovereignty. We actually don’t care about being popular, getting people elected or running in elections, so we are not affected,” said a paramilitary.
Brexit, or the political unrest it may generate, has presented the IRA and their supporters with an opportunity.
“Brexit is an English construct devised by the Tory party. There is an awakening of issues concerning the presence of the border now. Brexit has forced the IRA to refocus and has underlined how Ireland remains partitioned. It’s put the border on the agenda again. We would be foolish not to capitalise on the fallout when it happens,” said one of the paramilitaries.
Would the group enter negotiations with the Irish or British governments which might result in the cessation of the terrorist campaign?
“No. There is no point in talks. Our view is that it would be selling the project short. The British have tried to talk to us. There was an approach made six months ago by someone purporting to be from the International Committee of the Red Cross about republican prisoners, but they didn’t come from the Red Cross. We believe this was MI5,” said one of the men. A spokesman for the UK’s Home Office said it did not comment on matters of national security.
They said their IRA was structured in a similar fashion to the Provisionals, with a seven-man army council which carried out the wishes of a larger executive that dictated policy. One of the group said they had expelled members who they believed were involved in crime.
“In 2012 when we formed, there was a legacy of criminality. [Crime] went on in the Provisional IRA. When the IRA, in its current stage, emerged, there were issues, but we have dealt with it. We have nothing to gain from crime. It dishonours us. We have got rid of people who are involved in this activity,” he said.
The dissidents spoke about the Good Friday agreement as a failed accord. They referred to the collapse of the political institutions in Northern Ireland two years ago as evidence of this to bolster their argument. “[Politicians] are happy to get paid by the British for doing nothing in Stormont. Stormont is a failed institution that no longer serves any purpose. The politicians haven’t been in Stormont for years, not that we want them there,” said one, who suggested the 1998 settlement had become irrelevant with time.
“We still have all the issues that existed before the Good Friday agreement. The British have never signalled their intention to leave Ireland. You mention the possibility of a border poll but it would only be organised at the discretion of a British secretary of state. Britain still has a veto over Irish sovereignty. No one even read the [accord’s] document before the vote. It was like Brexit — people didn’t know what they were voting for,” said another of those present.
The dissidents maintain the Provisional IRA’s decision to support democracy and decommission its weapons, causing defections, was the result of a mixture of “war weariness, lies and clever manoeuvring” by its leadership.
“People were tired of war, being stopped and searched walking down the road. The support for the agreement was a reaction to that. The IRA was a complex organisation. It was always an alliance of individuals who fought against the British. We had given our lives to it. The public believe the Provos wholeheartedly supported the peace process, but they didn’t. The IRA would have gone back to war if it wasn’t for the Omagh bombing,” said one of the paramilitaries, referring to the 29 people and unborn twins murdered by dissident republicans in 1998.
“There were serious problems with the members in 2005 around the time of decommissioning but people were bought off. The members were told they would be going back to war, and they accepted it. In recent years many people have come to the realisation all they were told was lies,” said another of the paramilitaries.
The dissidents made it clear that nothing would dissuade them from using violence, regardless of any public and political opprobrium which followed McKee’s death. McKee’s friends last week daubed red handprints on the wall of the Derry headquarters of Saoradh, the dissidents’ political wing. The images of “blood-soaked hands” were shared widely across Twitter and Facebook.
“You ask, is this madness? There will be madness as long as there is armed occupation in Ireland. As I said, go back to what the IRA did in the 1970s; condemning the IRA is nothing new.”"
https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/rioting-in-creggan-londonderry.292113/page-38#post-9239566
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