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www.celtic-connection.com
SEPTEMBER 2002
Northern Ireland Police Target Loyalist Paramilitaries
BELFAST - A senior police officer said loyalist paramilitaries have been responsible for the "significant majority" of the recent violence in Belfast. After nights of violence and rioting throughout the summer months, the Ulster Freedom Fighters were blamed for an attempt to murder an Independent Labour councillor who believes he was targeted because of his involvement in attempts to set up a police clinic in the loyalist Rathcoole estate.
Mark Langhammer discovered a partially exploded device under his car as he prepared to take his children to school. A senior police source said, "Mr. Langhammer has been supportive of the clinic and urging people to work with the police. The clinic was to give people the opportunity to talk to the police. But the paramilitaries, especially in Rathcoole, want to keep their grip on the community. People in the estate are terrified."
The attacks, and police confirmation that loyalist paramilitaries were behind the bulk of the violence in Belfast, came after the Loyalist Commission - which consists of politicians, clergy and representatives of the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando, described loyalist violence as reactionary.
Alan McQuillan, Assistant Chief Constable in charge of greater Belfast, told the Policing Board that loyalist paramilitaries had orchestrated most of the violence. "You have a situation where I couldn't say that, exclusively, the violence has come from one side but what I can say is the significant majority of the serious violence, the serious attacks, in my view has come from loyalist paramilitary groups," he said.
"Much of that has been directed at the Catholic community and much of it also directed at my officers." Both McQuillan and new Chief Constable Hugh Orde condemned the attack on Mark Langhammer.
"They (loyalist paramilitaries) don't want community policing because of their criminal activities. But they won't stop us, we will be back in there," McQuillan said after the board meeting..
People are 'Sick
and Tired' of Blame Game
BELFAST - Northern Ireland Secretary of State John Reid said there is deep anger that many decent people in places like east Belfast have had to suffer so much violence over the past few months.
"People are sick and tired of a blame culture at interface areas, where the first response is to say it's the other side's fault," he said. "We have to shine a spotlight on the violence to make sure the people of Northern Ireland know who is committing this violence, because there are for instance over 60,000 people in east Belfast and it's a relatively small number of them that is inflicting this miserv on the rest of the people there," Reid said.
Asked for his reaction to the Loyalist Commission statement, Reid said that given what everyone has gone through there would be caution on all sides. "But I certainly welcome this step as another step towards re-establishing some normality in some of the worst-affected areas of Belfast and I hope that others do welcome it and do respond to it," he said.
DAVE ABBOTT with his swimming partner Frederick.
Dave Abbott's Travel Diary is heard three times daily on The Unforgettable 600AM Radio at 11:40 AM; 5:40 PM and 2:40 AM.
Bogside Murals Depicted in New Book
DERRY - Three painters known as the Bogside Artists - Tom and William Kelly and Kevin. Hasson - produced murals depicting the Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday and the part played by Bernadette McAliskey in the civil rights movement. Situated around the Free Derry Corner, the murals have attracted world-wide attention and are visited by huge numbers of tourists annually.
Now the artists have released a book entitled Murals which includes not only brief and informative histories of Derry and Ireland but commentaries from world-renowned playwright and Derryman Brian Friel, Gerry Adams, Bishop Daly and others.
The book is a lavishly illustrated publication which details accounts of the making of a mural from scratch and is of particular interest to students of art and Irish politics. It is the intention of the Bogside Artists to complete the project they embarked upon in 1994 - to construct a panoramic history of the troubles.
When finished in 3004 this will be an open-air gallery of unique significance in the world. The final painting of the series will be a Peace Mural, a fitting curtain on a long history of conflict. The project has the support of The Derry City council.
Copies of Murals and high-quality posters of the work of The Bogside Artists is available at: www.bogsideartists.com.
TRAVEL DIARY WITH DAVE ABBOTT
CANCUN'S CORNUCOPIA
"Hasta la vista baby" the taxi driver laughed, mimicking Arnold Schwartznegger's favorite movie line, as he dropped me at The Westin Resort Hotel in Cancun, the tourist capital of the Mayan Riviera.
The Westin is part of the Hotel Zone that lines a curving bay of blinding-white beach etched with gentle breakers on a turquoise sea. My room, seven stories up, had floor to ceiling windows facing the ocean. After the grey skies of Vancouver, it was a pulse-raising sight. I couldn't wait to wriggle my toes and dive into the warm tropical waters.
Here the beaches are hand-raked every morning as you breakfast. Large colourful umbrellas strategically placed delineate your territorial patch. Groomed sidewalks, freshly painted fences, bike paths and zebra crosswalks resemble the streets of Palm Springs.
The Mexican waiters are muy simpatico, the local people charming and there's sunshine all but two days of the year. Cold beers, soothing margaritas, fresh seafood and fruit served daily with excellent service is, for the most part, commonplace.
Regular police patrols keep the area safe. Combine these factors, mix, stir and cold-blooded Northerners love the place and can't wait to experience it a second or third time.
However, there are some things this tourist does not especially enjoy in the Yucatan Peninsula, including a proliferation of American cultural icons; Macdonald's, Planet Hollywood, Wal-Mart and The Gap; awaiting tourists who ritually visit malls and fast-food joints identical to those in their hometown.
There are also enough theme parks to slake the thirst of any theme park aficionado. An invitation to visit Parque Nizuc (www.parquenizuc.com) a giant water park of activity for parents wishing to pacify unruly kids, was unexpected and aroused my curiosity. Would I like to go swimming with dolphins, director Javier Hermosillo, wanted to know?
It's always a bonus interacting and immersing oneself in indigenous activities whether it's riding a donkey in Jerusalem, playing with wild monkeys in North Borneo, riding my camel Doris (ugh, her bad breath) in Oman, ploughing rice-paddies with water-buffalo in Vietnam or hunting snakes in South Africa's Drakensberg Mountains.
I like to believe such cultural immersion subtly enhances one's standing with locals. They also make great stories.
The thought of swimming with graceful highly sociable warmblooded mammals struck me as both touching and appropriate. It seemed a fine way to pass an afternoon even if my knowledge of dolphins was limited to "Flipper"
on television.
"You're partnering Frederick, Mr. Abbott," said blonde-haired instructor Judy dressed in her sky-blue wet-suit as I fastened on a lifejacket and slipped into the Ocean playpen treading water while waiting for my swimming companion.
On cue, 350-pounds of sleek six-foot muscular latex greeted me with a swish and swipe, his anatomical dolphin "smile," suggesting he was a playful creature and man's best friend. Highly intelligent, with an I.Q. higher than most of my friends, it disguised an aggressive brutal nature. Dolphins engage in head butting and tooth scratching to kill sharks.
"Fred," Judy assured me, "can be quite boisterous so just relax and allow him to come alongside you." Again Fred glided past me his smooth skin allowing him to move silently through the water and with a swish-swirl of his powerful tail muscles disappeared from view.
I heard Coach Judy shouting. "Next time grab his fins as he swims past. Put your right hand on the upper dorsal and the left on the one below." I felt a complete klutz!
On Fred's next pass he turned sideways, as if studying me, as my right hand clutched his upper dorsal; my left hand found the lower dorsal and we were off, like a jet ski, powering away from the dock. This was Formula One dolphin racing, a take-no-prisoners ride at breathtaking speed, heading for the open sea and the nearest landfall. Next stop Cuba!
Visions of washing up on Varadero beach umbilically attached to a dolphin, in a manner of speaking, momentarily flashed through my mind. "Canuck Hijacks Dolphin to Cuba" would make amusing reading in the tabloids. "Sorry Fidel, my dolphin brought me here!"
Fortunately, my will for self-preservation, a.k.a. cautionary fear, kept me focussed on the horizon, which was just as well for we were on a collision course with two wooden pylons at the end of the wharf.
Just meters away, Fred went deep and I went with him surfacing on the other side of the pier. Fred, sitting up, backpedaled exactly like Flipper and I'm sure I heard him laugh.
I shall return.
DINING OUT
Get yourself a Cancun Tips Savings Booklet, which has coupons good for savings of up to 20 percent on restaurants, up to 15 percent on shopping and up to 20 percent on entertainment. Obtain a copy of Cancun Tips, it is 160 pages and free. Ask for a Restaurant Menu Map- all at the Visitor's Bureau, (www. cvbcancun .com).
HIGHLIGHTS
Every Wednesday at 3:30 is a bullfight at the Plaza de Toros. Don't miss the Ballet Folklorico daily at The Convention Centre. For snorkeling, cruise to Isla Mujeres with Captain Hook and to Cozumel at Aqua World.
For a modest theme park go to Parque Nizuc with slides, diving boards and dolphins. Bigger and better is Xcaret (pronounced ish-cah-ret) a wondrous and magical place, a two hour bus trip away.
And don't forget Tulum or Chichen Itza, both Mayan ruins a two or three hour ride from Cancun. Enjoy a submarine ride on Nautibus, taking 80 minutes to the reef and back.
GETTING THERE
Air Transat has excellent packages. Ask for their brochure to select an economy all-inclusive package. Check out Air Canada's winter specials.