IMC blame UVF for five murders

The International Monitoring Commission (IMC) has blamed the UVF for murdering five people during its current feud with rival paramilitary group the LVF.

In a special report released on Thursday, just weeks after Secretary of State Peter Hain decreed the UVF ceasefire over, the IMC said the group's leadership had decided that "now was the time to finish off their rivals". In total the UVF carried out five murders and a further 15 attempted killings. The LVF on the other hand had been involved in two attempted murders, the report said.

It read: "This feud has erupted in bloodthirsty thuggery between paramilitary groups. A number of explanations have been offered to us: the history of rivalry and hatred, personal animosity, the LVF’s involvement in drugs, allegations and counter allegations about treachery, criminal competition, greed and power.

"We believe that, while the recent escalation of the feud may have boiled up as a result of local animosities set against the history of longstanding rivalry, the UVF leadership has decided that now is the right time to finish off the LVF. In the case of the LVF, we believe their violence against the UVF and its supporters, though coherent and fuelled by rivalry and animosity, is more by way of response than initiated as a campaign designed to achieve a purpose other than survival."

The report also hit out at the PUP, the political wing of the UVF, saying it needed to disassociate itself from the paramilitary group or accept the consequences of its association.

"We are aware of the view that the PUP is not strong enough to influence the UVF – in effect that it is the UVF rather than the PUP which leads. But two facts remain," the report continued.

"First, the PUP is a political party represented at both Assembly and local government levels, and in the case of the latter it stood in the May 2005 elections.

"Second, it is associated with the UVF. No democratic political party can expect to have it both ways. It can either disassociate itself from the paramilitary group, or it must accept the consequences of its association. The circumstances of the current feud make that all the more important."

The five murders highlighted in today's report were those of: Michael Green (42); Craig McCausland (20); Stephen Paul (28); Jameson Lockhart (25); and Brian Stewart (34).

(MB/SP)