Murphy preparing to recognise UDA ceasefire
One of Northern Ireland’s largest paramilitary organisations, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is about to be readmitted to the political process.
On Friday afternoon, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy is expected to acknowledge that the loyalist UDA is on ceasefire and ready to be admitted to political negotiations.
The UDA declared a ceasefire in February this year, reportedly in order to move away from criminal activity and paramilitarism.
However, the UDA was excluded from involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process in October 2001, when the then Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid declared that it had broken its previous ceasefire.
The rapprochement is apparently the outcome of ongoing contacts between Northern Ireland Office officials and the UDA’s political arm, the Ulster Political Research Group.
However, republicans remain sceptical about the loyalist group’s intentions.
As Sinn Fein leaders gather in Dublin for a party conference on Saturday, Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly told the BBC, “the only test that the UDA will be judged against is a genuine end to its campaign of attack and intimidation against the ethnic and nationalist sections of our community.”
