Police review UDA ceasefire after violence fears

Police in Northern Ireland were tonight ordered to make a fresh assessment of a loyalist paramilitary group’s ceasefire amid fears of escalating sectarian violence.

As the British and Irish Governments prepared to announce a package of proposals to rescue the troubled Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid announced he had asked the RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan to review the Ulster Defence Association’s ceasefire.

The UDA has been blamed for the murder of Protestant teenager Gavin Brett in Glengormley on Sunday night, around 140 pipe bomb attacks on Catholic homes across Northern Ireland and nightly street violence in north Belfast.

Following a two hour meeting at Stormont with Sir Ronnie, Dr Reid said while he did not believe the UDA as a group ‘‘abandoned its ceasefire’’ he had nevertheless ordered an assessment of the largest loyalist paramilitary group’s truce.

He said: ‘‘The UDA as an organisation has not abandoned its ceasefire.

‘‘However, I have received worrying reports today from the chief constable that increasing numbers of members of the UDA are apparently engaging in sectarian violence.’’

Nationalists and republicans have been pressing in recent days for a definitive statement from the Government on the UDA ceasefire.

The UDA, whose ranks include jailed loyalists Johnny Adair and Gary Smith, recently withdrew its support for the Good Friday Agreement.

The British and Irish Governments have confirmed they will release tomorrow a ‘‘take-it-or-leave-it’’ package of proposals which they have been working on for two-and-a-half weeks and which they hope will safeguard the Agreement.

Officials hope the package will stabilise the power sharing executive and Assembly by addressing unionist and nationalist concerns over the issue paramilitary weapons, the British Army, police reforms and the operation of the political institutions.

The document will be delivered by hand to the province’s pro-Agreement parties tomorrow and released publicly to journalists a half an hour later.

But as Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid and Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen prepared for the launch, there were warnings from unionists that its success still hinged on the IRA destroying its weapons.

In a move designed to intensify pressure on republicans, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble insisted IRA promises to disarm would not be enough to guarantee the future of the province’s power-sharing executive and Assembly.

‘‘It doesn’t matter what is in any paper that is produced,’’ the Upper Bann MP said.

‘‘The question is what is going to happen and if there isn’t satisfactory action on the ground, then no Ulster Unionist will offer himself for election as First Minister.

‘‘That means that the crisis that’s in the system will deepen and I think that republicans need to get their heads round the fact that the crisis which arises solely from their failure to keep their promises is liable to get worse in the near future.’’

Officials in London, Belfast and Dublin insisted today there would be ‘‘equal pain and equal gain’’ for unionists and nationalists.

However unionist sources said they regarded the decommissioning section as being ‘‘key’’ to their acceptance of the package.

Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness appealed today to all leaders of the political parties to sit back and seriously consider the contents of the package when it is released.

However he added he had no expectations of an IRA statement outlining a gesture on disarmament ahead of the release of the package tomorrow.

He vowed: ‘‘We are going to give the paper very serious consideration because it is too vital.’’