NINE ARE TOLD TO LEAVE ULSTER OR FACE DEATH

A young mother is among nine people ordered to leave South Armagh or face
death at the hands of a group calling itself Direct Action Against Drugs,
thought to be strongly linked with the IRA.

The woman, a Protestant in her twenties with a three-year-old daughter, is
said to be in "absolute terror" after learning of the threat. Terrorists
calling themselves Direct Action Against Drugs murdered nine alleged drug
dealers in Northern Ireland between 1995 and 1998. Sinn Fein claimed
yesterday that the threats, in a letter to the Northern Ireland Housing
Executive, were the "fictitious" product of mischief-makers out to undermine
the political process.

Threats to teenagers accused of "anti-social activities" last month led some
to flee to the mainland amid concern that the IRA was openly defying Mo
Mowlam, Northern Ireland Secretary, following her decision that its
ceasefire had not broken down. At least one of the nine, not the woman, has
left South Armagh for an undisclosed destination. Others have said they feel
"calm with nothing to fear" and did not understand why their names appeared
on the list.

But, because nothing has been heard of Direct Action Against Drugs in recent
months, police do not rule out the possibility that a prominent local drug
dealer may be behind the threats, intending to warn off anyone he sees as
competition. All those named live in the Bessbrook area and most are from
the nationalist community. Although some have allegedly had some involvement
in petty crime, including drugs, none is regarded as a large-scale dealer.

The mother is said to have no direct involvement in criminal activity but
may have attracted attention because her estranged husband was an associate
of a dealer believed to have been murdered by the IRA. Danny Kennedy, an
Ulster Unionist who represents Newry and Armagh on the Northern Ireland
Assembly, said: "It is very sinister because this organisation is directly
linked to the IRA and is capable of murder." He said the threats also
smacked of hypocrisy because of suspicion about the IRA's involvement in drugs.

Conor Murphy, a Sinn Fein Assembly member for the area, rejected claims that
the IRA was behind the threats. He had checked the authenticity of the
threats after being approached by some of those named. "I sought assurances,
and received them, that no republicans were involved in this and that they
did not believe such a group existed," he said. "That was the information
given, and I accept and believe it." Reports of people being expelled, which
had in the past proved to be false, suited the agenda of those opposed to
the Good Friday Agreement, he said.

Sinn Fein was opposed to paramilitary beatings and expulsions "while
acknowledging that in the absence of a proper policing service communities
often feel they have no option but to turn to these more extreme measures".