The tribunal's solicitors have received 900 signed statements and await the return of over 400 more, counsel to the tribunal, Mr Christopher Clarke, QC, told the inquiry yesterday.
The inquiry had traced 97 per cent of the 2,100 witnesses it wished to trace. Noting the difficulties in finding all the soldiers who had been in Derry on Bloody Sunday, he said 40 per cent of the names supplied turned out not to have been in the city on the day.
However, they now believed they had traced the vast majority of the soldiers who had been present and were still alive. This included all but two of the soldiers who had given evidence to the Widgery inquiry.
Mr Clarke said that a further advantage enjoyed by the present inquiry was that "the truth has a life of its own, and even though it may be the first casualty of hostilities, it has formidable powers of recovery".
He remarked that the assistance given to the inquiry had ranged from "the wholehearted to the grudging" and on a few occasions had been non-existent.
To anyone who doubted the inquiry's ability or will to discover the truth, he said that its commitment was absolute and it was both independent and impartial. If the truth was ever to be told, now was the time to do it.
Proposing to present a review and analysis of the evidence received so far, he said his intention was to provide a provisional frame of reference. Different portions of that evidence might well be unpalatable to different people, but the fact that he summarised it should in no way be taken as indicating that he or the tribunal had formed any opinion on its accuracy.
Mr Clarke then began a review of the background to Bloody Sunday and the political and military planning in the years and months preceding it.
He said that the Derry of the late 1960s and early 70s was a disunited city, divided on sectarian lines, and with high unemployment and "some terrible housing conditions". Discrimination against Catholics in housing was a fact of life, as was electoral gerrymandering.
Counsel outlined the structure for security at the time. In practice, he said, overall security was in the hands of the Northern Ireland government but the General Officer Commanding took his orders from the Ministry of Defence.
Mr Clarke read from documents outlining the policy of high-ranking officers, and of the North's political establishment, towards internment and the force required to suppress street violence and disorder.
He will continue his presentation today.