[NYTr] IRE: British army role in occupied north ends after 38 years

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Simon McGuinness

The Irish Times - Jul 30, 2007
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2007/0730/1185230139289.html

British army role in North ends after 38 years

The British army ends its 38-year role in support of the police in
Northern Ireland tomorrow, the longest military operation in its
history, writes Dan Keenan , Northern News Editor.

Operation Banner, the name given to the mobilisation of troops in
Belfast in 1969 to support the RUC, formally ends at midnight tomorrow,
bringing to an end a military exercise in which 763 members of British
forces died.

The last soldier to die was Stephen Restorick, who was shot by a sniper
in south Armagh in February 1997.

Soldiers will remain stationed in Northern Ireland in preparation for
possible deployment anywhere in the world.

However their numbers will not exceed 5,000, a level described by the
army as a "normal peacetime garrison", and roughly the same number
present when the large-scale street conflict erupted in 1969.

According to British armed forces minister Bob Ainsworth, troops will
retain a limited and very specific role with the capacity to deploy in
support of the PSNI in extreme cases of public disorder. However this is
not anticipated.

Col Wayne Harber, based at army headquarters, told The Irish Times that
such deployment would only be considered if the public order situation
was "dire".

"It would need to be 1969 stuff," he said.

"Wednesday marks the beginning of a new era for the UK armed forces in
Northern Ireland," Mr Ainsworth told MPs last week.

"As with other parts of the country, the military will become very much
part of the community. "

A commemoration for those who died under Operation Banner is planned for
next spring.

The army presence, currently around 5,600, has been steadily dropping
since August 1st, 2005, under "security normalisation" or
demilitarisation plans put into action in the days immediately after the
formal announcement by the IRA that it was standing down.

At its peak in 1972, the combined British armed forces presence in
Northern Ireland was some 27,000, although this steadily decreased until
1992 and the early years of the peace process when 18,200 soldiers were
still deployed.

Overall some 300,000 British military personnel have been in Northern
Ireland since 1969, stationed at more than 100 army bases. At the height
of the Troubles there were 15 battalions in Belfast alone.

The number of bases has also been steadily reduced and the hilltop army
posts along the south Armagh Border have been dismantled under a strict
timetable and overseen by the Independent Monitoring Commission.

There are 17 military sites still in use although this is forecast to
fall to 10 in the longer term.

Sinn Féin has welcomed confirmation that "the almost 40-year British
military occupation of the Six Counties, will end on July 31st".

Newry and Armagh MP Conor Murphy said: "Not only was land stolen from
local people, but communities were harassed and spy posts and other war
apparatus blighted this area."

Col Harber responded saying: "We are content for Conor Murphy to say
whatever he needs to say. Actually we have worked with Sinn Féin to get
out of south Armagh."

He added: "I will give him respect for his view because he is part of
the political process."

© 2007 The Irish Times