February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Anne Cadwallader
BELFAST — Two fractures in loyalist support for the peace process appeared on Tuesday as the UDA withdrew its support for the Good Friday agreement and the PUP, which speaks for the UVF, refused to engage in ongoing talks to prevent a political crisis arising from Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble’s resignation as first minister.
The development came as loyalist violence continued. On Tuesday night, an elderly, disabled Catholic woman died at a relative’s home after she and her two sons, one of whom is mentally retarded, were forced from their homes in a Protestant housing estate in Lisburn, Co. Antrim. SDLP and Sinn Fein spokespersons have linked her death to the intimidation she and her family suffered.
Although neither the UDA nor the UVF said their cease-fires are over, the two developments can only be seen as a serious challenge to continuing loyalist support for the agreement and the entire peace process. Both groups are believed to be involved in continuing sectarian attacks in Northern Ireland, although the UVF less so.
Vigilantes, equipped only with mobile phones, are now to be seen on the fringes of Catholic areas in Portadown, in North, East and West Belfast, as well as in other towns and villages throughout the North, with tensions remaining high.
The UDA said in its statement, issued at midday Tuesday, that it would not remain silent about an agreement that a growing number of loyalists despise because of what they believe is its intolerable line of concessions to republicans.
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The UDA said its culture and heritage are being eroded, presumably a reference to the rerouting of the Orange Order’s march at Drumcree last Sunday.
The PUP, meanwhile, said that it will play no part in the continuing talks over preventing the collapse of the agreement. Its spokesman, David Ervine, clashed with Sinn Fein’s president, Gerry Adams, at the negotiations in Britain Monday when Ervine demanded to be told what price the IRA would demand in return for weapons decommissioning.
The PUP was only invited, along with the other smaller parties, to the first day of the talks and this has caused anger among party members who say they are being left out of the loop. It’s believed that Ervine and Adams clashed at the talks in Britain in what some observers say was an angry exchange across the table.
In an initial response to the UDA statement, Sinn Fein said the UDA cease-fire had been over for months now, with the group orchestrating regular attacks on Catholics.
The only difference, said Sinn Fein, was the UDA may now claim those attacks instead of using the Red Hand Defenders or Orange Volunteers as cover names.
The UDA statement reads: "While our cease-fire remains intact, the UFF from today July 10th has withdrawn it support for the Good Friday Agreement.
"We can no longer remain silent in criticism of an Agreement which our members have continually voiced opposition to and which the vast majority of the loyalist community have grown to despise.
"We find it intolerable that Sinn Fein have gained concession after concession yet there is still a growing erosion of our culture and heritage. This has to stop."
"We cannot allow this to go any further. There can be no more concessions to nationalism while the fabric of our loyalist community is torn asunder."
Sinn Fein’s Alex Maskey said it had been his view for some time that the UDA/UFF cessation had ended and that they were filling the political vacuum created by the Ulster Unionist leader’s subversion of the political institutions with violence.
"The reality on the ground for some time has been the UFF orchestrating and carrying out attacks on Catholics," he said. "This flies in the face of the promise contained in the Good Friday agreement to live free from sectarian harassment."