Hain: I won't be rushed on UVF ceasefire

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 SDLP politicians, party leader Martin Durkan said the failure of the Government to declare the UVF ceasefire invalid, after a bloody summer which has seen the organisation kill four people in Belfast, was unacceptable.

Mr 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 recognising the UVF ceasefire.

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

However Mr 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.

Relatives of some of the UVF victims had denied claims that their loved ones were connected to the LVF.

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.

President Mary McAleese today abandoned plans to visit the Shankill area when she travels to Belfast for a series of engagements.

Her spokesman said the decision was made because of security concerns.

Pupils and staff at Edenbrook Primary School, where she was due to appear tomorrow, will instead meet her at a reception in a South Belfast hotel.