Giving up the guns

摘要

The IRA this week took a large step towards its own dissolution. Under the inspection of foreign observers, guns, rockets and explosives procured and stored to kill for a united Ireland were "put beyond use." So said the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, chaired by a former head of the Canadian armed forces, General John de Chastelain.rnNorthern Ireland's big moments have a habit of being undermined by fear and mutual mistrust between Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists. This year 14 people have died violently in Northern Ireland, two almost certainly killed by the IRA, the other 12 by loyalist paramilitaries. The peace process, as Tony Blair admits, is not perfect. The decommissioning move, unlike the announcement of the IRA'S 1994 ceasefire, brought no dancing in the streets. There were nonetheless signs that at last a barricade has been removed. The political climate might not encourage celebrations but no observer could miss a procession of firsts, developments that would have sounded incredible even months earlier.