ULSTER UNIONIST LEADER REJECTS CLAIMS OF IRA DISARMAMENT

Belfast The Reverend Ian Paisley, head of Ulster’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), dashed hopes of an end to Northern Ireland’s political deadlock yesterday when he rejected international findings that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has scrapped all its weapons. After talks with international monitors, the Rev. Paisley, shown, said he was not convinced by their historic declaration on Monday that the IRA had put its arsenal beyond use, adding that the DUP, the largest Protestant party in Northern Ireland, would not join a power-sharing government with Sinn Fein, the IRA’s political wing. “It’s a nonsense to say that decommissioning has been completed,” Rev. Paisley said after he was briefed on the findings by John de Chastelain, the retired Canadian general who oversaw the disarmament process. “ We are not going into government with Sinn Fein.” As the IRA’s political master, Sinn Fein was behind the IRA’s pledge on July 28 to

end the armed struggle and pursue

peaceful political

means to end British

rule in the province.

After Gen. de

Chastelain declared

on Monday that the

IRA had decommissioned its weapons,

the Irish and British

g o v e r n m e n t s

expressed hope a joint Protestant-Catholic assembly could soon be restored after a three-year hiatus — a key step toward a permanent peace settlement.