Little noticed amid the deteriorating situation in the Middle East has been substantial progress in another long-standing international conflict. The Irish Republican Army last week announced that it had completed a second round of arms "decommissioning" -- the phrase the group uses to describe putting its weapons "beyond use." It is a most welcome move. It underscores the group's commitment to the peace process in Northern Ireland and shifts the burden to other militant groups that must match the IRA gesture. It is essential that all of the groups in the troubled province commit themselves to the peaceful resolution of political problems.
The IRA is suspected of having one of the largest arsenals in Western Europe. During its 30-year fight against British rule in the province, it acquired a vast store of weapons, consisting of rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. A key issue in the long negotiations that led to the Good Friday Accord was the fate of that arsenal. Not surprisingly, trust was an issue. Unwilling to unilaterally disarm without real confidence-building measures, the IRA refused to give up the weapons. The fact that the group did not consider itself to have been "defeated" by the British also contributed to their reluctance to hand over their weapons. Instead, the IRA agreed to "decommission" its weapons in a process that would be overseen by an independent commission.
The first round of decommissioning took place last October. Skeptics were loath to credit the gesture as the entire process was shrouded in secrecy. Although the commission described the move as "a significant act" at the time, a later comment by Gen. John de Chastelain, head of the commission, that he would have considered even one gun to be "significant" aroused concern that the entire process was a sham.