OMAGH ALMOST FINISHED CEASEFIRE
Omagh almost finished ceasefire
THE UVF leadership said that its ceasefire was close to breaking-point in the days after the Omagh bombing of August 15 1998.
But the group has insisted that the cessation has largely remained intact since October, 1994 - despite the group being blamed for 24 murders in that time.
Pressed on the killings perpetrated by members of the UVF in recent years, leaders expressed anger and opposition to many of the deaths.
These included last November's shooting of John Allen in Ballyclare, Ciaran Cummings in Antrim in 2001 and Raymond McCord Junior in November, 1997.
Ceasefire breaches have also taken place during bloody feuds with the UDA and LVF.
Taking an overall view, the UVF leadership described the majority of the killings as unacceptable and unsanctioned.
"As soon as you call a ceasefire, you are going to be open to scrutiny and we accept that," they said.
"But, in every organisation in life, you will have those people who overstep the mark, step out of line, and there will be problems and incidents. I don't think anyone could have seriously believed 10 years would have passed without incident.
"The fact is we have active service units in just about every town and village across the country and, as a leadership, we cannot be there to prevent every incident that occurs.
"Some deaths attributed to the UVF - those lives could have been saved if others had done something first. Like the Shankill feud. If Johnny Adair and his cohorts had been taken to task, it never would have happened."
They continued: "Maintaining the ceasefire has been hard at times. We have felt pressure from the community to respond.
"The most difficult time for us was the period after the Omagh bombing when unionist people would have been happy for us to respond - like with like - but we held the line for a while.
"We were promised a complete clampdown by the British Government on dissident republicans. We did see successes but the big clampdown never really came.
"There were other occasions when the leadership actually went into Long Kesh and prisoners were hearing about bombings and there was an unbelievable strain on the ceasefire. We had to weigh up whether the IRA bombing London and breaking its ceasefire was them saying we are going back to war or a message to the British Government saying we need a deal to be done.
"We opted for the latter and we were proved right in that it was a message to the Government and we were able to maintain the discipline."
THE UVF leadership said that its ceasefire was close to breaking-point in the days after the Omagh bombing of August 15 1998.
But the group has insisted that the cessation has largely remained intact since October, 1994 - despite the group being blamed for 24 murders in that time.
Pressed on the killings perpetrated by members of the UVF in recent years, leaders expressed anger and opposition to many of the deaths.
These included last November's shooting of John Allen in Ballyclare, Ciaran Cummings in Antrim in 2001 and Raymond McCord Junior in November, 1997.
Ceasefire breaches have also taken place during bloody feuds with the UDA and LVF.
Taking an overall view, the UVF leadership described the majority of the killings as unacceptable and unsanctioned.
"As soon as you call a ceasefire, you are going to be open to scrutiny and we accept that," they said.
"But, in every organisation in life, you will have those people who overstep the mark, step out of line, and there will be problems and incidents. I don't think anyone could have seriously believed 10 years would have passed without incident.
"The fact is we have active service units in just about every town and village across the country and, as a leadership, we cannot be there to prevent every incident that occurs.
"Some deaths attributed to the UVF - those lives could have been saved if others had done something first. Like the Shankill feud. If Johnny Adair and his cohorts had been taken to task, it never would have happened."
They continued: "Maintaining the ceasefire has been hard at times. We have felt pressure from the community to respond.
"The most difficult time for us was the period after the Omagh bombing when unionist people would have been happy for us to respond - like with like - but we held the line for a while.
"We were promised a complete clampdown by the British Government on dissident republicans. We did see successes but the big clampdown never really came.
"There were other occasions when the leadership actually went into Long Kesh and prisoners were hearing about bombings and there was an unbelievable strain on the ceasefire. We had to weigh up whether the IRA bombing London and breaking its ceasefire was them saying we are going back to war or a message to the British Government saying we need a deal to be done.
"We opted for the latter and we were proved right in that it was a message to the Government and we were able to maintain the discipline."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/541
Published Date: 17-May-04
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