- The Observer
8 25.08.19 News
Brexit
Boris Johnson vowed to preserve
peace in Northern Ireland during dip-
lomatic forays to Germany and France
last week, saying “under no circum-
stances” would the UK put checks and
controls on the border.
The prime minister’s reassurance
did not reach the narrow lanes and
hedgerows of County Fermanagh.
Here it felt like the bad old days had
already returned.
A helicopter and surveillance air-
craft criss-crossed grey skies over the
village of Newtownbutler , while in the
fi elds below police and soldiers fanned
out in the grim, familiar choreo graphy
of securing a bomb scene.
A telephone warning to a newspa-
per about a bomb had brought them
to this corner of Fermanagh, which
borders the Republic of Ireland. Thedevice turned out to be a hoax. But
hidden nearby was a second device,
a real bomb that exploded without
warning on Monday.
It caused no casualties. But for
security forces the shockwave was a
stark reminder that they are engaged
in a game of homicidal cat-and-
mouse with an unseen foe – a game
supposedly consigned to history.
“This was a deliberate attempt
by the Continuity IRA to murder
police offi cers and army personnel,”
said detective superintendent Sean
Wright , head of the Police Service of
Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) terrorism
investigation unit.
Offi cers sealing off the area, foren-
sic teams combing for evidence,
media clustering at the end of a road- it had the air of deja vu, a tableau
On the border’s narrow lanes,
the bad old days are returning
Anger and confusion
grip the people of
County Fermanagh,
who fear an escalation
of violence as no deal
looms. Rory Carroll
reports from the village
of Newtownbutler
from the Troubles. The only thing
missing was blood. The next attack –
few doubt there will be another, and
another – may deliver that.
Dissident republicans are escalat-
ing their campaign. The bomb was
the fi fth attack on security forces this
year.
Simon Byrne , the chief constable
of the PSNI, expressed concern at
the “tempo and pace” of attacks and
warned that a hard border imposed
by a no-deal Brexit could “trigger”
other people to join dissident ranks.
“If we get this wrong we could drift
back to almost a paramilitary style of
policing,” he said.
The gloomy assessment contrasted
with the prime minister’s upbeat tone
in Berlin and Paris, where he assured
his hosts the UK would not impose
border checks in the event of a no-
deal Brexit on 31 October. There were
options, solutions, technologies, he
said. Johnson appeared jaunty while
resting his foot on a table in the
Élysée Palace.
Sceptics called it a glossy sham
intended to defl ect blame if the UK
leaves the European Union without
a deal, inexorably leading to checks
and controls on Northern Ireland’sNorthern Ireland
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