Loyalist terror group ready to disband by end of year
Thursday October 27 2005
FLAGS have been taken down and murals painted over in Belfast ahead of the anticipated disbandment of the Loyalist Volunteer Force terrorist group.
LVF trappings were removed from one of its strongholds in the Ballysillan district of north Belfast yesterday.
Negotiators trying to end a violent feud between the LVF and rival terrorists said it was part of a strategy to wind up the group before the end of the year.
Two dates for making a formal announcement have been discussed - Remembrance Sunday and the anniversary of the murder of its former leader, Billy "King Rat" Wright's murder.
"Total disbandment has been on the cards since last Christmas," a source close to the LVF said. "But if you get one big step the hawks would immediately dive in and spoil it. That's why it's being done gingerly, with moves like the flags and murals coming down." Even so, many will be sceptical of any declaration by an organisation steeped in murder and drugs.
To this end, secret discussions involving a number of clergymen have continued, but before it can announce its men have been stood down, a truce with the larger Ulster Volunteer Force is still to be brokered.
The UVF has murdered four men since the latest shooting war with its sworn enemies erupted on the streets of Belfast in July. Tensions between the two loyalist factions have festered since Wright formed the new organisation after being thrown out of the UVF in 1996. A year later, on December 27, Wright t was assassinated by republicans inside the Maze jail.
Allegations that prison staff colluded with the killers are to be studied when a public inquiry into his murder gets underway next spring.
Mediators attempting to end the latest power struggle among loyalists are believed to have made significant progress.
Despite UVF pledges to wipe out the splinter organisation, no one has been killed for two months.
During that period, the LVF is understood to have discussed making a major response to the IRA's September 26 declaration that its armed struggle was over.
The British government has also been approached about financing advice centres and post-conflict structures if the LVF's army council sells disbandment to the rank and file.
"An awful lot of hard and sensitive work has gone on in the background," one adviser said.
Pastor Kenny McClinton, who has worked as an LVF intermediary in the past, refused to comment on any initiatives.
"If there was anything going on, it would be much too sensitive for me to talk about," he said. "However, I would applaud any move towards a resolution of the conflict within loyalism and the wider community."
- Alan Erwin
