05/11/2003

McGuinness declines to disclose further details to Saville Inquiry

Sinn Féin MP, Martin McGuinness has again refused to reveal the whereabouts of an IRA safe house and an arms dump at the time of Bloody Sunday.

Accompanied to today's sitting by Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, Mr McGuinness, the Provisional IRA's second-in-command in Derry at the time of Bloody Sunday, was speaking on the second day of his presentation of evidence to the inquiry at the Guildhall in Londonderry.

Mr McGuinness, who has stated that he was a member of the IRA at the time of killings, said yesterday he could not reveal the whereabouts of such a dump and those involved because of his "Republican code of honour".

Today he again refused to answer the question saying those who owned the premises had asked him not to reveal that information.

Yesterday, Mr McGuinness informed the Saville Inquiry that at the time of Bloody Sunday he was adjutant and within two weeks of the incident he was the head of the Provisional IRA in Derry.

The Saville Inquiry, established in 1998 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is expected to conclude its evidence taking phase by Christmas this year.

On Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972, during a civil rights march in Derry 13 people were shot dead and another person fatally injured.

(MB)

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