No lack of clarity says IRA accusing Blair of bad faith

The IRA has issued a statement reasserting its commitment to the peace process and accusing the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, of publicly misquoting parts of their April 13th statement which was delivered in secret to both the British and Irish governments.

Tonight's statement accuses Mr Blair of an abuse of trust after claiming he had misrepresented the republican position during the negotiations.

It says the IRA had been poised to make a third act of disarmament after holding several meetings with General de Chastelain's decommissioning body.

"In order, in particular, to facilitate the Ulster Unionist Party, and to enhance the process to achieve agreement, we made preparations for a quantity of munitions to be put beyond use. In the event of agreement we were prepared to act immediately, and our preparations were at an advanced stage.

"Regrettably the two governments and the Ulster Unionist Party rejected ourstatement and our initiatives."

The IRA then accuses Mr Blair of misquoting aspects of their statement,and even though they said the Sinn Fein president had accurately reflected theirposition in a clear and unambiguous way, the subsequent word games had causedjustifiable anger and annoyance.

Tonight's statement added: "There is no lack of clarity. Our statement andthe commitments contained in it was dependent on agreement involving the twogovernments, the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Fein."