IRA denounces British and Irish governments

DUBLIN, Ireland -- The Irish Republican Army accused the British and Irish governments Tuesday of "an abuse of trust" by making public the outlawed group's letter on peace and disarmament.

Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair last week canceled an election on Catholic-Protestant power-sharing in Northern Ireland, saying that the IRA position on peace remained far too murky.

Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern have demanded that the IRA renounce violence in clear-cut terms.

The IRA said details of its April 13 communication on its commitment to disarmament "were mischievously leaked and misrepresented by the two governments. This was an abuse of trust."

It said Blair "publicly misquoted aspects of our statement" and "caused justifiable anger and annoyance."

Britain has suspended the Catholic-Protestant administration, and Blair and Ahern agreed that the main obstacle to reviving it is the IRA's refusal to provide a detailed renunciation of violence.

The IRA's new, defiantly worded statement came hours after Blair and Ahern reaffirmed their close cooperation at a Dublin summit on salvaging the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Hours before Ahern was to meet Blair, police defused a pipe bomb near Ahern's office.

The IRA said it was prepared to scrap "a quantity of munitions" speedily, but pegged the goal of its total disarmament to what it called "the full and irreversible implementation" of the Good Friday peace accord.

That landmark 1998 deal contained many debatable points, such as whether it clearly required the IRA to disarm fully by mid-2000.

As for renouncing violence in clear-cut terms, the IRA said its "activities, disciplines and strategies will be consistent" with the group's determination "to see the complete and final closure of this conflict."

Immediately after IRA published its statement, Britain repeated its view that they were unclear.