Loyalists refuse to follow IRA's example

The Ulster Defence Association has pledged not to decommission any of its illegally held weapons in response to this evening’s historic move by the IRA.

A senior UDA source said the IRA is still a threat to Northern society and insisted that his organisation would not leave its community undefended from attack by dissident republicans.

“Once the IRA take this step, what’s going to happen to their membership?” the source asked.

“Is a percentage going to go over to the dissidents? That would strengthen them and, as long as we deem a threat to this country, we have to take precautions.”

John Whyte, the chairman of the UDP, the UDA’s political wing, said many unionists are sceptical about today’s move by the IRA and view it as political opportunism rather than a genuine gesture of peace.

He said the UDA was angered when Northern Secretary John Reid declared its ceasefire over recently.

He also said the UDA will use their weapons to extract concessions for unionists from the British Government, just like the IRA used the decommissioning issue to secure concessions for the nationalist community.

The Ulster Volunteer Force, the North’s second-biggest loyalist paramilitary group, is also determined to hold onto its weapons.

In recent days, Billy Hutchinson of the PUP, the UVF’s political wing, said there is no obligation on the UVF to decommission.

Speaking this evening, he welcomed the IRA’s statement, but questioned the motives behind it. He said the decision to decommissioning was not a moral one, but was made in pursuit of a united Ireland.