Gerry Adams in bid to calm fresh Ulster violence (News Feature)

By Anna Tomforde Aug 12, 2010, 12:41 GMT

London - Balaclavas, firearms and explosives are back on the streets of Northern Ireland this summer - where the security authorities fear that a lethal attack by dissident pro-Irish republican groups is only a matter of time.

Since the start of August, there have been numerous attacks. A car bomb exploded outside a police station in Derry, the second-biggest city of the British province. An army major and a policewoman had lucky escapes when booby trap bombs left under their cars failed to detonate.

The incidents are part of around 30 similar attacks recorded so far this year. Police stations, and community halls where members of the Protestant majority meet, have been main targets of the attacks, many of them arson.

Northern Ireland's police chief, Matt Baggott, believes that the province is in danger of experiencing an atrocity on a scale of the 1998 Omagh bombing, when a car bomb left in the market town killed 29 people, including a pregnant woman and two Spanish tourists.

'These are the same people, or the same mindset, that ultimately led to the Omagh tragedy all those years ago, Baggott said of the recent violence. A fatal attack was only a 'matter of time,' one of his senior colleagues had suggested earlier.

Despite the popular support for the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement, dissidents opposed to the path of dialogue and cooperation are playing on traditional resentment, prejudice and fear between the Catholic and Protestant communities, the authorities say.

The groupings split from the formerly terrorist mainstream Irish Republican Army (IRA) in protest at the peace accord, and the decision by the IRA in 2005 to lay down its arms.

They operate under names such as the Real IRA, the Continuity IRA or the 32-County Sovereignty Movement and - although small in size - appear to have attracted growing support for their cause, especially among the younger generation, security agencies have warned.

They say the development was evident in July when thousands of teenagers, plus children as young as nine or 10, were involved in nights of rioting and fierce clashes with the police on a scale not seen sincethe height of the Troubles.

Police have called on the Protestant and Catholic communities of Northern Ireland not to shield the perpetrators but to help the authorities to bring them to justice.

In the midst of this atmosphere of heightened tension, Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, the main Catholic Republican party, has said he wants to to initiate a dialogue with the dissidents group who broke away from the IRA.

Adams, whose party has moved from being the political arm of the IRA to becoming the junior partner in the power-sharing devolved government in Belfast conceded that dissidents had 'a right to disagree' with Sinn Fein's strategy, but violence would not achieve the joint goal of Irish unity.

'There is a peaceful and democratic path available to a united Ireland - the vast majority of republicans are on it,' Adams said in a recent statement. As the party elected by republican communities to lead, Sinn Fein had a responsibility to provide political leadership, he said, talking about his offer to engage in talks with dissidents.

'We want these groups to reflect on the political realities of Ireland in 2010. Their activities play into the hands of rejectionist unionism and those elements of the British system who seek to limit and frustrate the process of change.'

The attempt to initiate talks was aimed at making clear to these groupings that armed actions had no place in the struggle for Irish unity, said Adams. 'This is not a stunt,' he added.

So far, just one of the groups had responded to Adam's initiative, a Sinn Fein spokesman told German Press Agency dpa Thursday. But the picture remained confused 'because there are so many factions,' he said.

The task Adams has vowed to undertake is not without danger. Emnity between the breakaway groups and Sinn Fein leaders, such as Adams and his deputy, Martin McGuinness, has resulted in death threats and mutual recrimination, with both sides accusing each other of being 'traitors.'

While it remains unclear whether, and how far, Adam's initiative will bear any fruit over the next few weeks, the British government has already made clear its objections.

'You cannot have any meaningful talks with people who are not committed to peaceful means. They are not listening. They are disparate. They are very small armed groups with no discipline or clear focus on where they are going,' said Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland Secretary in the Conservative-led British government.

'I do not have any great time for Owen Paterson. Of course people should talk. That is commonsense,' retorted Adams in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph newspaper.