I.R.A. PUTS FORWARD TRUCE CONDITIONS

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32776, 29 November 1971, Page 15

I.R.A. PUTS FORWARD TRUCE CONDITIONS

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

DUBLIN, November 28.

The militant Provisional Wing of the Irish Republican Army said today that if Britain agreed to five conditions it would end its military activities in Ulster.

The I.R.A. proposal was made after another wave of violence in which three persons were killed.

The five conditions of the Provisional Wing are:— “The end of violence by the British Army.” The abolition of the Stormont (the Ulster Parliament). A free election to establish a regional Parliament.

The release of all Irish political prisoners. Compensation for “all who have suffered British violence.”

“The ability of the organisation to develop the campaign has been amply demon-

strated since August 9, and particularly this week-end. It is up to Britain to decide how many corpses she requires before negotiating a troop withdrawal.” said the Provisional Wing in its statement.

“Until that day arrives, there will be no peace in Ireland and no prospects of implementing a just and lasting solution. “A positive response will result in the suspension of I.R.A. military operations,” the statement said. “A negative response will leave the I.R.A. with' no option but to vigorously pursue the campaign of military resistance.”

Yesterday, after two weeks of comparative calm, a soldier. a customs officer, and a civilian were shot dead. SHOT IN BACK

The soldier, a Scot, aged 18, was shot in the back and killed when his patrol was ambushed in the Roman Catholic Falls Road area of Belfast, and the other two men died during an attack on a customs post near the border with the Irish Republic at Newry. Shots were fired by gunmen from across the border.

There were several bomb incidents. By noon yesterday, explosions in Ulster had averaged more than one an hour for 24 hours.

There were 11 explosions among Saturday morning shopping crowds in an hour. Supermarkets, car showrooms and other business places were the main targets. The Army said it captured a man on the "much wanted” list when two men were interrupted by an Army patrol in the act of placing a bomb outside a police station ’ at

Ligoneill, in North Belfast. The other man escaped. The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (Mr Brian Faulkner) has commented on the plan of the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons (Mr Harold Wilson) for a new republic taking in the whole of Ireland. Mr Faulkner asked for recognition of the fact that Northern Ireland had one million Protestants to 500,000 Roman Catholics and was ruled through the prodeminantly Protestant Unionist Party. “The majority of people in Northern Ireland are determined to remain citizens of the United Kindom. It is absolutely basic to my principles as a Unionist that the position of Northern Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom must not be weakened' in any way," he said.

“Beyond that, if we can develop between Northern Ireland, as part of the United Kingdom, and the Irish Republic constructive and useful co-operation, that can only be to the good of everyone in all parts of Ireland, and if all of us in the British Isles draw closer together within the context of the European community. I for one, will welcome it.”

But, he said, these developments could only come from confidence and mutual trust, first between the communities in the province, and then “more generally.” In Dublin, the Prime Minister of the Irish Republic (Mr Jack Lynch) described Mr Wilson’s plan as expressed to the British Parliament as a "step forward.”