Nationalists want British to move against loyalists

By Chris Thornton

BELFAST — Loyalist paramilitaries continued to be blamed for violence in Northern Ireland as nationalist politicians renewed calls for the British government to take action against the UDA.

The cries for action came after the UDA staged a large march in Belfast and evidence grew that the Loyalist Volunteer Force, a splinter group with ties to the UDA, carried out the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan.

British Secretary of State John Reid was told that he should specify the UDA and LVF as terrorist organizations, a legal move that would bar the groups from provisions of the Good Friday Agreement like early prisoner release. Such action would have little practical effect on either group, since most of their prisoners have already been freed.

But nationalists said there the British government needed to recognize that the UDA ceasefire exists in name only.

Last month, Reid said he had come close specifying the UDA over a series of attacks in north Belfast, but changed his mind after receiving indications that the group was prepared to stop violence. But the UDA leadership later issued a defiant statement saying their cease-fire was a matter for themselves and indicating that they had not contacted Reid.

The group, once the largest paramiltary force in the North, has been linked to scores of gun and bomb attacks across the North as its leadership has turned against the Good Friday agreement. It is also directly involved in the protest against Catholic schoolgirls in north Belfast. Senior RUC officers say much of the agitation is designed to protect the group’s rackets.

The UDA staged a large march in north Belfast on Saturday to commemorate the death of one of their former leaders, Tommy English, who was shot dead in feud with their loyalist rivals, the UVF, last year. Scores of masked men in combat gear marched through a loyalist area of the city.

Alban Maginness, an SDLP member of the Assembly who represents north Belfast said he was “relieved it passed without incident.

“But it was a very public and defiant display by the UDA of its paramilitary might in Belfast,” he said.

“It belies their commitment to their so-called cease-fire, because it sends out a very clear message that they are a powerful paramilitary organization intent on acting whenever they see it as appropriate.

“None of this is intended to create confidence in the continuance of their so-called ceasefire — and people like myself observing these paramilitary displays do not have any real confidence in the continuance of their cease-fire.”

Sinn Fein councilor Gerard Brophy said: “There is no doubt it was a show of strength — probably designed to send a message to John Reid. He threatened to declare their cease-fire over and the next thing, thousands of loyalists take to the streets.

“The UDA cease-fire was over a long time ago. Does John Reid need a nationalist to be killed to prove otherwise?”

After the march, the UDA was linked to a gun attack on Lavery’s Gin Palace, a pub in central Belfast last Sunday. There were no injuries.

And a 7-year-old County Derry boy had a lucky escape after picking up a pipe bomb — one of the UDA’s chief weapons in recent years — at a GAA ground in Swatragh.

Loyalists were also blamed for an attack on a prison officer’s home in Portadown, Co. Armagh. The guard’s 17-year-old daughter, who was home alone at the time of the attack, received hospital treatment for smoke inhalation after the gang set the house on fire.

A spokesman for Secretary of State Reid said the UDA cease-fire was under “daily review,” but he gave no indications of fresh action.

Meanwhile, the Sunday World, the newspaper that employed Martin O’Hagan, said they were preparing to name his killers, who they said belonged to the LVF. RUC sources have already said forensic evidence has linked the gun used to kill O’Hagan on Sept. 28 to an earlier LVF killing.

The newspaper said it had passed the names of three men to the police, but would not publicly identify them yet in order to avoid harming the police investigation.

The Sunday World said O’Hagan — who was threatened frequently by the LVF — was killed to send a message to rival loyalists that the group is still powerful. Other reports have suggested he was about to expose a link between loyalists and heroin traffickers in Scotland.