UDA told announcement 'is not enough'

The loyalist Ulster Defence Association’s announcement that it was standing down its military wing and putting weapons 'beyond use' from midnight last night was welcomed - coupled with the message it was not enough.

The Ulster Defence Association leadership in statements read out at UDA "war" memorials around the North yesterday morning said that it believed the "war is over".

The UDA also sent out a general order to all members not to be involved in crime or criminality and said those who had joined its ranks for such purposes had to be rooted out.

Speaking at the UDA memorial service at Sandy Row in Belfast yesterday, local ’Brigadier’ Jackie McDonald indicated they would be trying to enter the political scene.

He urged the 60% of the loyalist community who he said did not register to vote, to do so.

“We will work with the community to wake the sleeping giant, and work together to have our own voice,” he said.

“We are the Red, White and Blue; we are the people who suffered and paid the price; we have to represent ourselves,” he added.

He made clear the UDA was not going away and said decommissioning as demanded was not on the table for now.

90% of people who we represent in the loyalist community won’t here tell of decommissioning. They are not the UDA’s guns, they are the people’s guns and the people don’t want to give them up because they don’t trust people yet,“ he said.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward welcomed the announcement as “very important” but said it needed to lead on to decommissioning of weapons.

The UDA would be judged on its actions not its words.

He said: “This is a very important statement by the leadership of the UDA. They have acknowledged that the war is over and call on all active service units to stand down.”

Mr Woodward added: “This is a significant move by the leadership of the UDA. It is essential that the commitments they have given today – those of an end to violence and criminality – are implemented on the ground.

“They will be judged by their actions, not their words.

“As part of that it is also essential that the UDA’s engagement with the IICD (Independent International Commission on Decommissioning) leads to the decommissioning of its weapons.”

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern also welcomed the move.

Mr Ahern said the task now was to deliver on the commitments in full, including early engagement with the IICD.

“This statement is significant and hopefully signals a further step towards the ending of all paramilitarism in Northern Ireland,” the Taoiseach added.

The Social Development Minister in the devolved Stormont administration, Margaret Ritchie, recently announced she was cutting off £1.2m (€1.7m) in funding to loyalist organisations because the UDA had failed to decommission.

It looked like the statement will not change her mind. She said: “I welcome the positive aspects of this statement, however it is disappointing that there is still no intention on the part of the UDA to decommission its weapons.”

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams welcomed any progress yesterday but said: “What the UDA needs to do is to get off the backs of the unionist people and remove itself as a threat to those ordinary Catholics who have most often been its victims.”

The UDA statement said: “The Ulster Defence Association believes that the war is over, and we are now in a new democratic dispensation that will lead to permanent political stability – but we believe the political parties and the political institutions are themselves still in a period of transition.

“In that context, the organisation intends to continue through a process of transformation that will ultimately achieve a Northern Ireland based on equality, justice and inclusivity where no sections of our people are left behind regardless of religion, politics or identity.”

In a strongly-worded order to members to desist from crime and criminality, the UDA leaders said: “It is the duty of every member to understand that to be involved in crime or criminality is to undermine the cause .

There were those who had joined for self-gain. “These people must be rooted out and never be allowed to breathe in our ranks.

“These people have been involved in drug dealing, and this must be stamped out. Drugs destroy our children, and our children are our future. These people are not loyalists, they are criminals. There is no place in the organisation for such people.”