Chastelain: IRA Has Disarmed

  26 September 2005

The head of an international panel overseeing the disarmament of the Irish Republican Army says the group has scrapped all its weapons.

Canadian General John de Chastelain says his investigators are satisfied that the IRA has completely decommissioned its arsenal. He said the arms have been "put beyond use." He spoke in Belfast after turning over his report to the British and Irish governments.

The IRA had promised in July that it would remove from service its military hardware and bring to an end its armed struggle against British rule. Before July, the IRA had allowed monitors to witness several incidents of what it had termed "decommissioning," but did not permit details to be released to the public.

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