Cautious welcome to UDA ceasefire

The loyalists paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association was tonight under pressure to prove it was genuine over its declaration of a 12-month ceasefire to boost the political process.

Loyalist politicians and the government welcomed a statement from the UDA and Ulster Freedom Fighters confirming they had begun a year-long period of ”military inactivity” and announcing plans to re-engage with the international decommissioning body.

But its statement was treated cautiously by Sinn Fein and the nationalist SDLP who both urged the group to prove that it meant what it had promised.

In a statement issued through its political associates in the Ulster Political Research Group, the paramilitary organisation said: “As and from February 21, 2003 all units of the Ulster Freedom Fighters, the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Militants in mainland Britain and in Northern Ireland have begun to observe a 12-month period of military inactivity.

“This period will be monitored internally every three months to ensure that there is a real and genuine political movement during and after the election of the new Assembly in Northern Ireland.

“An agreed, acceptable and equitable final settlement will produce even greater peace and stability within the confines of our beloved Ulster.

“We would urge the Dublin Government and the British government to be less dictatorial during any new negotiations.”

The UDA also confirmed that it was currently going through internal restructuring and that it was its plan that the Ulster Political Research Group would be the public face of its community instead of its brigadiers.

The ceasefire announcement came after a turbulent few months in the organisation, with a feud claiming the life of its South Antrim brigadier John Gregg and resulting in the expulsion from Belfast of supporters of the rogue Loyalist Johnny Adair from their lower Shankill power base.

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy and Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble welcomed today’s move.

Mr Murphy urged the organisation to go further by working towards “a permanent end to paramilitary activity in all its aspects”.

However SDLP leader Mark Durkan and Sinn Fein Assembly member Jerry Kelly were more cautious.

Mr Kelly, whose North Belfast constituency has witnessed bomb attacks and friction between republicans and the UDA said: “Everybody would be glad to have a genuine end to violence if this is a genuine cessation.

“My view and the view of most nationalists would be sceptical. The empirical evidence has shown that when the UDA has in recent years announced ceasefires or no first strike policies, it still engages in attacks on vulnerable Catholic communities.

“They will be looked upon as people who have told lies in the past and they must prove by their actions that these words are not meaningless.”

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the move was welcome but was not enough.

“We want to see the removal of the threat at any time and not just time limited promises from outfits whose words have meant little in the past,” the Foyle MLA said.

“A qualifying ceasefire from a dubious group can only get a qualified welcome from a sceptical community.”

Ulster Political Research Group member Frank McCoubrey appealed to people to be patient.

“We have got a year,” he declared.

“We have set ourselves a time limit to try and get involved with our communities again and to bring back a bit of normality and unanimity to working class loyalist communities.

“Now it is up to us as political representatives to try and steer the organisation in the right direction.”