British must acknowledge collusion, says McGuinness
The British government must acknowledge there was “structured” security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries in several killings in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness said today.
Mr McGuinness said allegations that police in the North and British army intelligence colluded in the death of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane and other Catholics could not be put down to “a few bad apples”.
Just days after an inquiry team headed by Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens confirmed it was preparing prosecution papers on the murder of Mr Finucane in 1989 against a senior British army intelligence officer, Mr McGuinness claimed the British government was still resisting families’ demands for the truth.
“Sinn Fein presented Tony Blair with a document on collusion and the role of Brian Nelson over five years ago,” the former Stormont Education Minister said.
“I am sure he has also read the various reports produced by Stalker, Samson and Stevens. So he and his colleagues are aware of these matters.
“They are also, no doubt, aware that this is not a case of a few bad apples. This is an example of the outworkings of a structured strategy by the British government and its agencies.
“In other words Pat Finucane and many other citizens were killed as a matter of British policy.”
Mr McGuinness, who along with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is due to meet a US Congressional delegation in west Belfast tomorrow, said he intended to raise with them the demand for an international public judicial inquiry into allegations of collusion.
He alleged collusion with loyalist paramilitaries “spanned all” organisations – the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Ulster Defence Regiment and Royal Irish Regiment, MI5, the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association, Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Resistance.
The Sinn Fein MP also accused British army intelligence’s Forces Research Unit of directing many of the organisations in the killing of citizens.
The party’s chief negotiator continued: “Sinn Féin fully supports the families of victims who are calling for international public judicial inquiries into the deaths of their loved ones.
“We have consistently raised these matters with both the British and Irish governments.”
