Reid's response outrageous
Ridiculous and despicable are the words with which northern
nationalists have greeted the British Secretary of State's
assertion that the UDA's ceasefire remains valid.
Despite ``worrying reports'', said Dr. John Reid, ``the UDA as an
organisation has not abandoned its ceasefire''.
No doubt these worrying reports include the killing of two
teenagers, shot dead because they were Catholic or believed to be
Catholic, both claimed by the Red Hand Defenders but widely known
to be the work of the UDA.
d did the RUC Chief Constable's briefing include over 150 pipe
and blast bomb attacks on Catholic families, property and
businesses carried out by the UDA and LVF?
Did it include the nightly, and sometimes daily, loyalist
incursions into vulnerable nationalist estates in places like
North Belfast or the sectarian mob attacks like the one that left
51-year-old Mary Campbell beaten unconscious and left for dead on
her own front doorstep?
Was there a ``worrying report'' concerning Geraldine Ewing, an
elderly widow who died hours after being intimidated out of her
Lisburn home. Or consideration of the children of Holy Cross
School, who can no longer go to class unmolested, following a UDA
orchestrated campaign of hate.
``I give this warning to the UDA and ask them to reflect on it,''
announced Reid, ``I'm keeping their ceasefire under constant
review and I have asked the [RUC] chief constable to give me a
report in a week's time, offering his full assessment.''
Just how much death and injury does John Reid need before he can
make up his mind?
The grief of the families of Gavin Brett and Ciaran Cummings, the
latest victims of a sectarian campaign waged against northern
nationalists by the loyalist UDA, stands as an indictment of the
complacent words of the British Secretary of State.