IRA weapons put beyond use – de Chastelain

The IRA has put all of its weapons beyond use, the head of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) has said today.

General John de Chastelain confirmed the news during a press conference on Monday where said that he was "satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA's arsenal".

"We have observed and verified events to put beyond use very large quantities of arms which we believe include all the arms in the IRA's possession," General de Chastelain said. "We have also made an inventory of them."

Although the exact content of arms decommissioned have yet to be released, it was confirmed that they included a full range of ammunition, rifles, machine guns, mortars, missiles, handguns, explosives and explosive substances.

The two churchmen appointed as witnesses to the decommissioning, former Methodist president Rev Harold Good and Father Alex Reid, said the IRA's complete arsenal was now beyond use.

In a statement they said: "The experience of seeing this with our own eyes, on a minute-to-minute basis, provided us with evidence so clear and of its nature so incontrovertible that at the end of the process it demonstrated to us - and would have demonstrated to anyone who might have been with us - that beyond any shadow of doubt, the arms of the IRA have now been decommissioned."

In a short statement released today by the IRA, the group's leadership confirmed said that it had engaged with the IICD to "complete the process of verifiably putting arms use."

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the move was an "important development in the peace process and one we have been waiting for, for a very long time."

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern welcomed the announcement by the IRA leadership. He said: "They have given up their weapons to pursue their aim by exclusively peaceful means."

(MB/SP)