UVF and Red Hand Commando break off IICD contact

The loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando have broken off contact with the international decommissioning body in Belfast.

At a news conference today, the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) assembly member Billy Hutchinson, who has acted as a mediator for the two groups in the past, said they were withdrawing because of the handling of the peace process.

Party leader David Ervine also announced that the PUP was breaking off all contact with Sinn Féin until he knew exactly what republican intentions were towards the unionist community.

Speaking today, the PUP assembly member accused Prime Minister Tony Blair and Sinn Féin of operating an exclusive peace process and of trying to strike a deal behind closed doors.

The loyalist paramilitary groups had warned earlier that its commitment to the peace process was under strain.

In a statement issued last night to the BBC, the leadership of the paramilitary groups blamed the IRA for what they called the current lack of confidence in the process.

“The words and actions of the republican movement have consistently created instability for the people of Northern Ireland," it read.

“Their New Year statement displayed total arrogance amid a blind refusal to accept any modicum of complicity for the current stalemate.

“Such patent intransigence conveys an implicit threat to the peace process.”

Responding to the statement North Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly said the PUP’s decision was "regrettable".

“This is not a time for walking away or giving up," he said. "It is a critical time and it is a time for engagement and dialogue. It is clear that dialogue is the only way forward. Our objective in this, is to see a situation where all of the unionist political representatives – UUP, PUP and DUP participate fully in the process.”

(AMcE)