The Northern Irish Conflict Update

1994

July: Several people, including a man in his 80s are shot by loyalist gunmen as they watch the Ireland v Italy World Cup match on television in a pub in the predominantly Catholic village of Loughinisland, County Down.

August: IRA announces a complete cessation of violence.

October: cessation of loyalist hostilities announced by the Combined Loyalist Military Command.

1995

December: President Clinton visits Northern Ireland and shakes hands with Gerry Adams.

1996

February: The IRA calls off its ceasefire and one hour later sets off a bomb at South Quay near Canary Wharf in London's Docklands which kills two, injures 100 and causes millions of pounds' worth of damage.

A few days later another bomb explodes prematurely on a bus in Aldwych, central London, killing eight people including the bomber.

June: A huge IRA bomb destroys Manchester's Arndale Centre but no-one is killed.

July: A march by Orangemen is blocked by the RUC at Drumcree, near Portadown, as it approaches the Catholic Garvaghy Road area. After a stand-off, the RUC then makes a U-turn and permits the march, sparking violent clashes between Catholics and the police in Portadown, Belfast and Londonderry.

A few days later 40 people are injured by a bomb at the Killyhevlin Hotel in Enniskillen. Responsibility is claimed by the extremist republican Continuity Army Council.

August: Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Patrick Mayhew bans loyalist Apprentice Boys from marching along contentious sections of Londonderry's city walls for the traditional Siege of Derry celebration. Loyalist leaders pull back from a confrontation with security forces.

October: An IRA bomb explodes at the Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, killing a British soldier.

1997

February: Corporal Stephen Restorick is shot dead by an IRA sniper at a checkpoint in south Armagh.

April: IRA bomb hoaxers cause havoc on Britain's motorways, especially the M6 in Birmingham and the M1 in Northamptonshire.

July: IRA declares another ceasefire. UUP leader David Trimble meets Tony Blair in Downing Street. At a news conference afterwards, Mr Trimble announces that the Unionists are unhappy with the talks proposals and will not support the Government on the decommissioning vote. Ian Paisley meets Tony Blair and claims the talks process was 'dead in the water'. First Sinn Fein-Government meeting since the restoration of the IRA ceasefire.

August: Gerry Adams and Mo Mowlam (Northern Ireland Secretary) meet at Stormont for the first time since the ceasefire. Mo Mowlam announces that Sinn Fein will be admitted to the peace talks.

September: Sinn Fein affirms its commitment to the Mitchell principles of democracy and non violence but the Unionists remain unconvinced. These guidelines are named after the former American senator George Mitchell who chairs the political talks process. The six principles include the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations and the end of the so-called punishment killings and beatings.

The deadlock is broken as the parties concerned strike a deal opening the way to peace talks.

October: For the first time in 25 years unionists, loyalists, nationalists and republicans sit together to seek a solution to Ulster's problems. Tony Blair shakes hands with Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams. He becomes the first British Prime Minister for 70 years to meet a Sinn Fein delegation. Unionists react angrily.

The Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) withdraw from the Combined Loyalist Military Command, the umbrella group for loyalist paramilitary groups.

The Northern Ireland Secretery Mo Mowlam gives wider powers to the Northen Ireland Parades Commission. The intention is to halt or re-route flashpoint marches. Nationalist residents groups called for the disbandment of the commission.

December: Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein delegation meet Prime Minister Tony Blair at Number 10 Downing Street, he is the first Irish Republican leader to visit Downing Street since Michael Collins visited Lloyd George in 1921.

Londonderry experiences its worst violence since the restoration of the IRA ceasefire in July, when riots break out as nationalists protest at a Protestant Apprentice Boys parade through the city centre.

The Northern Ireland Secretary orders a full inquiry into how a republican prisoner managed to escape from the high-security Maze prison despite the recent tightening of security.

Billy Wright, one of Ulster's most feared loyalist paramilitaries, is shot dead at the top security Maze prison in Northern Ireland. His Loyalist Volunteer Force carry out a series of revenge shootings - one within 24 hours and another on New Year's Eve.

1998

January: The peace process is in danger of collapsing as loyalist prisoners in the Maze withdraw their support for the talks.

Mo Mowlam gambles on a historic face-to-face meeting with the prisoners inside the Maze. It works and the loyalist inmates announce renewed support for the peace process. Two days later another Catholic is murdered by LVF gunmen. The victim, Terry Enwright, is married to a niece of Gerry Adams.

After a period of violence in which a total of seven Catholics and two Protestants die, the loyalist Ulster Democratic Party leaves the peace talks when one of the groups to which it is linked, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, admits some of the killings.

February: Two men are killed and the IRA is blamed by RUC chief constable Ronnie Flanagan. As a result, Sinn Fein is suspended from the peace talks until March 9 despite arguing that it does not represent the IRA. Sinn Fein says it might not return to the table and insists on a meeting with Tony Blair.

The UDP is readmitted to the talks after its suspension is lifted.
 


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