Before the British Army became involved in the modern day conflicts of Afghanistan and Iraq, the most dangerous posting a British soldier could face lay in a small border region between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, known as South Armagh, or as it was often referred to during the troubles of Northern Ireland, 'Bandit Country'. This was an area so dangerous to the British forces that it proved only to be accessible to them by air, for fear of attack whilst moving on the ground. It was a landscape identified by the vast military bases and watchtowers which overlooked every town in the area. Bandit country at this time was the militant stronghold of the Republican paramilitary organisation the Provisional IRA and given South Armagh's close proximity to the border was a vital location not only to the IRA's military campaign, but also with regards to any criminal activity such as fuel and livestock smuggling which were also used to raise funds for the military campaign. This was a place steeped in IRA tradition and their support in the war against the British army was unrivalled in any other part of the province. However with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 we have seen the country enter into a new era of peace were Nationalist and Loyalist communities are slowly but surely learning to live in peace alongside one another, but is this new found optimism for the future entirely evident in this most staunch of republican areas, a place where visitors are viewed with suspicion, and an obvious level of paranoia is undoubtedly felt by the local populus after years of perceived oppression by the British forces, and an area that has essentially policed itself during the entire period of the 'troubles' now tries to integrate itself with a 'new' Northern Ireland. Therefore can 'Bandit country' fully embrace the changes of a nation , or will it still find itself in a legacy of the past.
