Report on the Third Inspection of IRA Weapons Dumps by Martti Ahtisaari and Cyril Ramaphosa, 30 May 2001

Report on the Third Inspection of IRA Weapons Dumps
by
President Martti Ahtisaari and Mr Cyril Ramaphosa
30 May 2001

This is a report to the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) following another inspection of IRA arms dumps.

Our mandate as Weapons Inspectors is to inspect the contents of a number of IRA arms dumps and to report that we have done so, and to re-inspect these dumps regularly to ensure that the weapons have remained secure.

Since our second inspection on 26 October 2000, we had planned to carry out an inspection during the first quarter of this year. We have, however, been unable to carry out this inspection earlier due to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and consequent restrictions of movement.

With the easing of these restrictions of movement, we re-inspected the arms dumps. As we stated in our previous reports, these dumps held a substantial amount of military material, including explosives and related equipment, as well as weapons and other material. We confirm that the arms dumps had not been tampered with and that they have remained secure.

We observed that the weapons and explosives continued to be safely and adequately stored. We remain confident that they cannot be used without our detection.

The IRA has once again fully honoured their commitments and complied with the terms of our engagement and we are convinced that this co-operation will continue.

We will continue to re-inspect the arms dumps in order to ensure that the weapons remain secure.