Belfast/London - The formerly terrorist Irish Republican Army (IRA) has relinquished its leadership structures and would no longer be able to wage a terrorist campaign, an independent report on the disbanding of the organization said Wednesday.

The report by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), set up to monitor paramilitary groups under the 1998 Belfast Peace Agreement, also stated that the IRA Army Council - the organization's ruling body - had "become redundant and serves no function."

The continued existence of the seven-member council is at the centre of renewed tension within Northern Ireland's power-sharing government, where Protestant leader Peter Robinson insists that political cooperation with the Republican party of Sinn Fein can only proceed if the Council is disbanded.

"If the Council is redundant, it is no longer an issue and will not pose a terrorist threat whatsoever," Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary, Shaun Woodward, said Wednesday.

Woodward, presenting the report drawn up at the request of the British and Irish governments, said the document marked "the end of a process and a new beginning."

It stated clearly that the IRA had given up its weapons and relinquished its leadership structures, making clear its intention that the political process was "now the only way forward," said Woodward.

However, it is likely that Robinson, who took over as Northern Ireland's First Minister in May, will not be satisfied with the passages concerning the status of the IRA Council and continue to insist on its complete removal to end the current political deadlock. (dpa)