Cease Fire – 1998
1998
Various groups violated the ceasefire in 1998. In January 1998, the peace talks nearly collapsed as the loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) admitted its involvement in the killings of three Catholics, and thus its violation of the ceasefire. Following this admission, the UFF called off its campaign against killings of Catholics.1 Talks continued and the parties reached a final settlement and signed a comprehensive peace agreement on 10 April 1998.
Following the peace agreement, the Loyalist Volunteer Force — a Protestant paramilitary group in Northern Ireland — announced an “unequivocal” ceasefire before the referendum and campaigned for a no vote.2 After the referendum that took place on 22 May 1998, the hardliner republican group named the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), a breakaway faction of the IRA, exploded a bomb in the town of Omagh, 55 miles west of Belfast, on 15 August 1998. In the attack, 28 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded.3 Immediately after the bombing, the RIRA apologized and called for a ceasefire.4
In August, the Irish Republican Socialist Party affiliated with the paramilitary group Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) announced a ceasefire, and thus an end to its 23 years of violence. Nevertheless, the group continued to oppose the peace agreement signed in April.5 The ceasefire was held for the rest of the year.
- “Protestant militia admits it broke ceasefire in Northern Ireland,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, January 23, 1998.
- “LVF Put Down Guns and Join ‘No’ Campaign,” Daily Record, May 16, 1998.
- “Bomb in Ulster, Exploding Among Shoppers, Kills 28,” New York Times, August 15, 1998.
- “Premiers Pray that Massacre Signals End of Troubles,” The Mirror, August 24, 1998.
- “Northern Ireland Terrorist Group Announces Ceasefire,” BBC, August 22, 1998.