UDA campaign must be challenged
BY LAURA FRIEL
``We all know that the UDA ceasefire is over,'' Sinn Féin President
Gerry Adams told a Belfast press conference this week. ``And what
is causing anger is the refusal by the British government, and
particularly the RUC hierarchy, to state that publicly.''
Adams was speaking after the death of Belfast teenager Gavin
Brett and serious injury of another 18-year-old Michael Farrell
in a UDA gun attack at the weekend. The two friends were standing
with other teenagers outside St. Enda's GAA club in Glengormley,
County Antrim on Sunday night, 29 July, when loyalist gunmen
opened fire from a passing car.
``Clearly, the responsibility for this killing rests with those
who commissioned it or those who carried out the act,'' said
Adams, ``but this is also a tragic reminder of how precarious
peacemaking can be.''
``This was the third person to be killed because they were
Catholic or suspected of being Catholic,'' said Adams. Three weeks
ago, 19-year-old Ciaran Cummings was shot dead by loyalist gunmen
as he waited for a lift to work at the Greystones roundabout in
Antrim. The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by both the UDA
and LVF, later claimed the killing.
Earlier this year, a loyalist gang who mistook their victim for a
Catholic beat 49-year-old Thomas Lowry to death. The same gang
had attempted to abduct a man leaving St. Enda's GAA club earlier
that night. Local people who witnessed the abduction attempt
identified one of the gang as a member of the UDA.
``This loyalist campaign is being conducted by anti-Agreement
loyalists,'' said Adams. ``Their aim is to bring down the Good
Friday Agreement, but it goes much further than that. It is also
an attempt to destroy the peace process.''
Within the last six months, there have been almost 150 pipe bomb
attacks by loyalists on the homes of Catholic families, some of
which have only narrowly escaped serious death or injury. In one
of the most serious incidents a Catholic family of five escaped
within seconds of their home being engulfed by a fireball that
completely destroyed their New Lodge home.
Other Catholic families have been subjected to petrol and paint
bomb attacks on their homes and property. Three weeks ago when a
row of sixteen pensioners bungalows were petrol bombed, only the
vigilance of neighbours who spotted the fires and rescued the
elderly residents, averted greater tragedy.
A number of Catholics have been seriously injured in attacks by
loyalist mobs. Earlier this year, 51-year-old Mary Campbell was
beaten unconscious and left for dead by loyalists from Tigers Bay
who attacked the Catholic grandmother with pickaxe handles
outside her North Belfast home.
Commenting on the UDA's involvement in both ``a protracted
campaign of bomb attacks on Catholic homes and property'' as well
as recent street disturbances, Adams criticised the British
government's lack of response.
``The refusal of the British government to face up to this is
totally unacceptable,'' said Adams. ``We have to face up to the
reality that within recent weeks all nationalists were declared
targets.'' Adams called on all civic society to make it clear that
they are against this sectarian activity.
``I am also calling on the leaders of unionism not only to declare
their opposition to these sectarian attacks but also to meet the
loyalist organisations involved,'' said Adams. ``For my part I am
prepared to meet the UDA to make my position clear.''
Adams said he was prepared to meet anyone and to work on any
initiative that could be put in place to stabilise the situation,
``and I call upon others to do likewise''.
Commenting on the recent upsurge in street disturbances,
particularly in North Belfast, Adams said there was a ``very deep
anger within nationalism that these disturbances have been
reported as tit-for-tat''. The Sinn Féin President rejected the
portrayal of republicans and nationalists as ``a mirror reflection
of rejectionist loyalism''.
Repeating Sinn Féin's ``firm and total opposition to sectarianism''
and reiterating republican opposition to attacks on Protestant
homes, Adams warned against young nationalists being sucked into
a sectarian response to loyalist violence.
``I want to commend many people in North Belfast, community
workers and people involved in civic society, republicans and
former prisoners, all who have played a very positive role,'' said
Adams. ``I am also aware that decent elements within loyalism are
also trying to calm this situation and that each section of our
people in these interface areas feels under threat.''
``The difficulties in nationalist areas have been exacerbated by
the partisan behaviour of the RUC,'' Adams added, pointing out
that community leaders attempting to calm situations ``appear to
have been deliberately targeted by the RUC. There are a number of
people injured or still in hospital as a result of being batoned
or hit by plastic bullets by the RUC.''
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