UVF step closer to dumping weapons
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
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The Canadian decommissioning general John de Chastelain has now spoken to the UVF - as that organisation moves ever closer to a major statement on its future.
The early morning talking was by telephone yesterday with the general in Canada and representatives of the UVF in the Belfast offices of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (the IICD).
It is understood the UVF advised the head of the commission of its decision on weapons, which falls short of decommissioning.
More details will be included in the leadership statement from the UVF and Red Hand Commando € which is now imminent, and which follows a lengthy consultation inside the paramilitary organisations.
General de Chastelain will return to Belfast on May 14.
Ahead of its announcement the UVF and Red Hand Commando have ordered weapons to be placed under the control of the organisation's quartermasters.
The intention is to convey the message they will never be used again.
But with Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde insisting that the arms issue is dealt with through "proper channels", there is still nothing to suggest early decommissioning.
After a series of high-level political meetings in Belfast and Dublin, the choreographed build up to the loyalist statement is now complete.
Yesterday senior UVF and Red Hand figures were part of the loyalist delegation that held talks with the Secretary of State Peter Hain.
The paramilitary statement, which will be signed in the name of captain William Johnston - the UVF's equivalent to the IRA's P O'Neill - will be the most significant since the Combined Loyalist Military Command ceasefire of 1994.
And, in its timing, the loyalist leadership is sending out a message that there is no threat to the devolution deal involving the DUP and Sinn Fein - no threat to the new political era of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness.
While the weapons question will be the unfinished business of this statement, the ordering away of the UVF's military units and the clear instructions that will be given on a range of activities, will mark a significant contribution to the developing politics and peace.
In its own words, it is the UVF saying that it is leaving the war stage.
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