IMC REPORT GIVEN TO BOTH GOVERNMENTS
09/06/05 14:21 EST

A report on the state of the Ulster Volunteer Force's ceasefire has been handed over to the British Government, it was confirmed today. 

Nationalist politicians have in recent weeks called on the Northern Ireland Office to review the loyalist terror group`s ceasefire as it shot dead four people this summer. 

The organization, which is linked to the Progressive Unionist Party, has waged a bloody vendetta against the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force in the city. 

PUP leader David Ervine cautioned against specifying the paramilitary grouping, but said he believed it was inevitable. 

"I think that has been expected for some Time:," Mr. Ervine said. 

"The cacophony of sound about specification of the UVF has never been heard from within nationalism for the specification of the IRA, whether it be over McCartney, the bank robbery or indeed we go back as far as the Direct Action Against Drugs killings, of which there were over 12." 

A Northern Ireland Office spokesman confirmed it received the special report on the UVF from the four member Independent Monitoring Commission which assesses paramilitary ceasefires. 

"Arrangements will be made to publish it as soon as practicable," he said. 

The spokesman could not say at this stage how long it would take for the British government to study the IMC`s findings and reach a decision on what it should do about the UVF`s ceasefire. 

Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain is to meet nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan tomorrow to discuss the loyalist feud. 

Their talks will also cover sectarian attacks on the Catholic community in north Antrim and other key issues in the peace process. 

n a recent interview, Mr. Durkan also accused Mr. Hain of acting with "indifference" towards the UVF ceasefire. 

In July, Secretary Hain said he intended to withhold the PUP's assembly allowances for another year. 

The decision followed the latest report from the Independent Monitoring Commission, which said the UVF and Red Hand Commando remained active, violent and involved in organized crime. 

It is believed it is will be a number of weeks before Mr. Hain will be able to lay his official response to the IMC report before Parliament. 

Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell also received the IMC Report from the Commission today. 

"Arrangements are being made for consideration of the report by the Government and for its laying before the Houses of the Oireachtas parliament," a spokesman said.

HAIN RELUCTANT TO SPECIFY UVF
09/07/05 08:26 EST

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain today said he would not be rushed into any 'quick-fix' judgments on the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force's ceasefire. As he prepared to meet nationalist SDLP politicians, their leader Martin Durkan said the failure of the British Government to declare the UVF ceasefire invalid, after a bloody summer which has seen the organization kill four people in Belfast, was unacceptable. 

Durkan said at Stormont Castle, where his party also met Northern Ireland Office Security Minister Shaun Woodward, that there was no need for Mr. Hain to wait for a report, which he received yesterday from the Independent Monitoring Commission, to stop recognizing the UVF ceasefire. 

"They have been literally getting away with murder this summer," the Foyle MP said. 

However, Hain said his first priority was to end all violence. 

"My concern is to stop the murder and this awful violence which has just stained communities in Belfast and elsewhere. You do not necessarily do that by quick procedural fixes." 

The UVF has waged a vendetta against the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force in Belfast, claiming the lives of four men. 

In recent days, masked loyalists have also been involved in disturbances in the Shankill area of the city. 

Lorries were hijacked and burnt and police vehicles attacked following PSNI raids prompted by a UVF show of strength in the Woodvale area on Saturday. 

According to well-placed sources, the Independent Monitoring Commission's special report has blamed the UVF for recent killings. 

The IMC presented the British and Irish governments with its report on the UVF-Loyalist Volunteer Force feud yesterday as violence and serious tensions around loyalist paramilitary activity continues to increase. 

The UVF is also accused by police and politicians of orchestrating serious rioting in north Belfast that was triggered by the arrest of one man and the seizure of a UVF machine gun on Monday. 

The weapon, said to be of a Sten-gun type, and other UVF material were seized following a "show of strength" by the UVF in north Belfast on Saturday. 

The trouble flared as tensions mount about this Saturday's postponed Orange Order Whiterock parade in west Belfast. It was due to be held in late June but Orangemen held a protest march along the Shankill instead after they were banned from parading onto the nationalist Springfield Road through Workman Avenue. 

The Parades Commission ruled that the Orangemen could march on to the Springfield Road through the old Mackies site, but they said this was unacceptable. The commission has held to this decision for Saturday, which has raised concern that loyalist paramilitaries could try to exploit the parade by further rioting or even attempting to trigger interface violence. 

The IMC cannot specifically instruct Mr. Hain to "specify" the UVF, ie rule its ceasefire is no longer intact. "But it will be perfectly clear from the IMC report that it blames the UVF for the recent killings," said one senior source last night. 

"There will be nothing surprising in the report," the source added. 

PORTADOWN SHOOTING LINKED TO LOYALIST FEUD
09/09/05 11:49 EST

A man is in hospital after being shot in Portadown in an incident which has been linked to the loyalist feud in Northern Ireland. A number of shots were fired at a parked car with one person on board at 3 p.m. this afternoon. 

The person in the car then drove from the scene of the shooting. He drove for ten minutes until he reached hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. 

The shooting is believed to be linked to a feud between rival Portadown elements of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force and Loyalist Volunteer Force which has claimed four lives in Belfast. 

This gun attack followed the wounding of a man late last night in neighboring Lurgan. 

The 26-year-old victim was answering a call at a house in Margretta Close, Lurgan, at around 11:20 p.m. local-time: when a shot was fired through the door. 

He was hit by a bullet in the hallway and taken to hospital for treatment but his injuries were not believed to be life threatening. 

Earlier in the month there was also a pipe bomb attack in the same street as today`s shooting. 

Local Craigavon councillor Philip Weir condemned the latest shooting, describing it as 'an alarming development'. 

"This is the last thing the people of Portadown and the Craigavon area would have wanted at this Time:," the DUP councillor said. 

Exactly four weeks ago, a man was shot at playing fields in Lurgan in another gun attack linked to the feud. He was hit several times in the stomach and thighs, suffering serious injuries. 

IMC ISSUES SIXTH REPORT
09/22/05 11:39 EST

Nearly 150 people have been warned their lives may be under threat from feuding loyalist paramilitaries, it was revealed today. The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) said the Ulster Volunteer Force`s latest shooting war with the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force, which left four men dead this summer, involved the worst violence it has ever investigated. 

The four-man team`s new dossier accused the UVF of trying to wipe out the smaller organization and claimed its political representatives in the Progressive Unionist Party had lost any control over it. 

Its report said: "This feud has erupted in bloodthirsty thuggery between paramilitary groups. A number of explanations have been offered to us: the history of rivalry and hatred, personal animosity, the LVF`s involvement in drugs, allegations and counter allegations about treachery, criminal competition, greed and power." 

"We believe that, while the recent escalation of the feud may have boiled up as a result of local animosities set against the history of longstanding rivalry, the UVF leadership has decided that now is the right Time: to finish off the LVF." 

The Commission compiled a special report on the bloody fall-out between the two organizations after it flared on the streets of north and east Belfast this summer. 

Ten men have been shot dead since expelled UVF men formed the splinter faction in 1996. 

But tensions which have festered from the murder of Brian Stewart in May last year erupted into an intense six-week murder spree. 

Between July 1 and Aug. 15. the UVF assassinated four men it believed to be associated with its sworn enemies: Jameson Lockhart, Craig McCausland, Stephen Paul and Michael Green. McCausland's family maintain that he was not involved in paramilitarism. 

There were also dozens of other attacks, including: 17 attempted murders (15 by the UVF, 2 by the LVF); six shooting incidents; 18 explosives or petrol bomb incidents; and a car ramming, according to the IMC. 

The report attributed 38 of the 49 attacks to the UVF and 11 to the LVF. 

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Hain has already declared the UVF`s ceasefire over following a recommendation from the commission team, made up of former Northern Ireland Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice, ex-CIA chief Dick Kerr, Joe Brosnan, a former secretary general of the Department of Justice in Dublin, and John Grieve, former Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner. 

The IMC also said police chiefs already stretched by fighting organized crime in Northern Ireland have had to divert resources to the dispute. 

"They have made 45 arrests since the beginning of July 2005. Fifteen people have been charged and 126 searches undertaken. Since July 1, they have informed 146 people that they may be under threat as a result of the feud." 

Despite blaming the UVF for all five murders since May 2004, it did not name either organization for two other killings that provoked outrage in Northern Ireland. 

Lisa Dorrian, 25, vanished after a caravan site party in Ballyhalbert, Co Down, in February. LVF men were linked to her murder. 

And schoolboy Thomas Devlin, 15, was stabbed to death near his north Belfast in August in what is believed to be a random sectarian attack. 

The commissioners recognized they may have been expected to refer to both killings in the dossier, but stated: "We have no reason to believe that either murder was carried out on behalf of a paramilitary organization." 

The British Government has already imposed cash sanctions on the Progressive Unionists based on earlier IMC reports into the level of UVF violence. 

Mr. Hain is still to decide whether to extend the 12-month ban on Assembly allowances, worth GBP27,000 to a party whose only elected MLA is its leader David Ervine. 

But the interim IMC report, its sixth so far, contains a damning assessment of political efforts to halt the violence. 

"We are aware of the view that the PUP is not strong enough to influence the UVF - in effect that it is the UVF rather than the PUP which now leads," it said. 

"No democratic political party can expect to have it both ways. It can either disassociate itself from the paramilitary group, or it must accept the consequences of its association. The circumstances of the current feud make that all the more important." 

It added: "We believe there is still an association between the PUP and UVF. We think now, as we have before, that the PUP has not done all that could be done to prevent paramilitary activity and has not credibly voiced or exerted its opposition to paramilitaries, and the UVF in particular." 

Although loyalist gunmen have murdered, the IMC praised the police efforts, stressing the death toll could have been higher. 

"People, including those associated with these two paramilitary groups, almost certainly owe their lives to prompt police action," it said. 

Yet with many attacks being carried out on the spur of the moment, advance warning has been impossible in some cases. The level of shootings and bombings involved in the feud was the most intensive ever investigated by the Commission. 

"It is not possible to compare different forms in terms of the outrage they cause, but in the period since we were established in January 2004 there has been no sustained series of violent incidents which has matched the murders and self-interested violence of the UVF/LVF feud," they said. 

Hitting out at claims by the terrorists that they protect their communities, the IMC insisted these loyalist neighborhoods were more in need of economic and social development. 

"Yet the continuing malign and destructive influence of the paramilitaries serves only to hinder this," the report stressed. 

"The feud makes it far worse. Paramilitaries must stop putting their own interests and the advancement of their own positions above those for whom they deceitfully claim to speak." 

ULSTER LOYALISTS STAND DOWN MILITARY UNITS 

By Paul O'Hare, PA 

The military units of the Loyalist Volunteer Force have been stood down following orders from their leadership. The move, which took effect from midnight last night, is a direct response to the IRA's decision to decommission its weapons arsenal. 

It also followed a formal end to the feud between the LVF and the rival Ulster Volunteer Force. The LVF was formed by Portadown loyalist Billy Wright after the Ulster Volunteer Force leadership stood down his unit in 1996. Wright, who was nicknamed "King Rat," was later charged with menacing behavior and sent to the Maze Prison. 

On Dec. 27, 1997, he was assassinated by INLA prisoners, who had 
escaped from their wing via a roof. Wright was shot dead at point-blank range as he sat in a prison van in the forecourt waiting to be taken for a visit. 

The LVF statement made last night came just hours after it was announced the bitter loyalist feud, which had claimed four lives, was over. The Loyalist Commission said the dispute between the rival paramilitary groups had been resolved. In a statement the Commission, which includes politicians, churchmen and paramilitaries, said: "We now believe that the feud has permanently 
ended." 

The UVF was blamed for the murders of four men in Belfast during July and August. The victims were Jameson Lockhart, 25, shot dead on the lower Newtownards Road on July 1; Craig McCausland, 20, shot dead in his Dhu Varren Park home in north Belfast on July 11; Stephen Paul, 28, shot dead in Wheatfield Crescent in north Belfast on July 30 and Michael Green, 42, shot dead in Sandy Row on Aug. 15. 

The DUP's Nigel Dodds welcomed the news but said it was too late for the bereaved families. The North Belfast MP said: "The ending of murder and bloodshed on our streets will be particularly welcome in the north Belfast area which has borne the brunt of the trouble. Communities have been set on edge and put into turmoil. I pay tribute to those who have worked so hard to bring this resolution about. Let us hope and pray that this announcement will be evidenced on the ground and that people's lives will return to normal." 

A special report by the Independent Monitoring Commission said the LVF carried out two murder attempts but concluded their actions were mainly a response to UVF attacks. 

LVF ANNOUNCEMENT TO STAND DOWN WELCOMED
10/31/05 11:36 EST

By the Irish-American Information Service

A Loyalist Volunteer Force announcement that it has order its military units to stand down has been described as an important and necessary step by the Irish Government. 

The terror group ceased its operations at midnight in a direct response to the IRA`s decision to decommission its weapons arsenal. It also follows a formal end to the feud between the LVF and the rival UVF. 

Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern has welcomed the LVF announcement. He said it was an important and necessary step towards decommissioning by all loyalist paramilitary groups. 

In London, the Northern Secretary Peter Hain also welcomed the announcement but told the House of Commons that "words would have to be matched by deeds from all loyalist groups." 

Echoing his sentiments, the Democratic Unionist Party said it was time all loyalist paramilitaries abandoned the armed struggle. 

"We would call on the other loyalist paramilitary groups to follow suit and to also confirm that they are standing down their units and ending all their violent and criminal activity," Mr. Jeffrey Donaldson said. 

"We are clear that the only way forward in Northern Ireland is through the democratic process. If we are to have any real hope of lasting peace, then all of the paramilitary groups must end their violent crime for good and also deal emphatically with the issue of illegal weapons." 

The Lagan Valley MP said the LVF will continue to be scrutinized by politicians and the International Monitoring Commission. 

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said the announcement is the latest in a series of positive developments. 

"Yesterday`s announcement that the feud is over, last week the UDA sent a delegation to see the decommissioning body and Gerry Adams, for the first time, allowed the words 'The war is over' to pass his lips," Sir Reg said. 

"Now when we take all those things together I think we have had a fairly positive week and something that I think we need to build on." 

"Given the LVF's history, nationalists and republicans will of course be cautious of anything being said or promised by them," Sinn Fein's Mr. Gerry Kelly said. He added: "This grouping has a history of sectarian violence, murders and widespread drug dealing, so with relation to the LVF, it is very much wait and see." 

The LVF move, which followed a similar announcement by the IRA on July 28th came after an announcement earlier that the feud between the LVF and the UVF which has flared sporadically for years and claimed four lives since the summer, is "permanently ended". 

The move to disband the LVF, if enacted fully by its members, brings to an end not just the feud itself, but also a dangerous instability within loyalist paramilitaries and unionism. 

The LVF was formed in 1996 under Billy Wright, who was later murdered by the INLA at the Maze prison. 

A statement issued earlier yesterday by an umbrella organization for loyalist paramilitaries, Protestant clergy, unionist parties and community organizations claimed that mediation efforts to end the feud had been successful. 

Loyalist Commission chairman, the Rev Mervyn Gibson, said: "The primary aim of the initiative was to stop further hurt and injury to any one person." He added: "A process of extensive talks was embarked upon independently with the UVF-Red Hand Commando and the LVF. Those initiating the process had the encouragement of many within political and community life and the prayer support of individuals and churches. We now believe that the feud has permanently ended." 

The UVF and the much smaller associate group, the Red Hand Commando, may also issue a statement soon. 

The spate of murders linked to the feud over the summer, the IRA declaration in July that its campaign was over and its subsequent decommissioning last month led to expectations that mediators would make a breakthrough. 

There has been no bloodshed since mid-August. However the following month the violence led Northern Secretary Peter Hain to declare the UVF ceasefire was over. 

Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine, who was earlier urged to end his party's UVF links, forecast nearly two weeks ago that a deal would be struck. "I predict that loyalist guns will go silent," Ervine said. "I couldn't possibly achieve that, but I know those who can and it is absolutely their determination to do so." 

The news was welcomed by unionists and nationalists and the Northern Ireland Office. A British government spokesman said the development was welcome but that the government stood by its insistence that all paramilitary activity had to be ended. 

North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds of the DUP said: "The ending of murder and bloodshed on our streets will be particularly welcome in the north Belfast area which has borne the brunt of the trouble. Communities have been set on edge and put into turmoil. I pay tribute to those who have worked so hard to bring this resolution about. Let us hope and pray that this announcement will be evidenced on the ground and that people's lives will return to normal." 

The SDLP's Alex Attwood greeted the development with caution. 

"This is a welcome development as far as it goes, but everyone wants to see a lot more. The LVF, UVF, IRA and others are judged against the same criteria - the end of terror, the ending of organized crime, and the end of control over communities. There have been a number of false dawns around the LVF before. That is why people will be cautious."