ti-Catholic pogrom continues
UDA ceasefire over
When asked about the welcome given by Derry nationalists to the
British soldiers deployed in the Bogside after the riots of 1969,
Eamon McCann points out that far from the soldiers seeing
themselves as the saviours of Derry nationalists, they had
bayonets fixed to rifles that they were pointing into the
Bogside.
d anyone who witnessed the arrival of the British Army then
will also remember that one of the first tasks the soldiers
carried out was to erect barbed wire fencing and restrict access
to the city centre from the Bogside.
It is therefore with deja vú that we view the ``deployment'' of the
British Army in North Belfast this week and ask just who they are
protecting.
In the past two weeks North Belfast has seen an upsurge in
loyalist violence with both bomb and gun attacks launched against
numerous nationalist families.
d in a particularly vicious attack in the New Lodge area
loyalists threw an incendiary bomb into the home of a family of
five. The explosion engulfed the dwelling in minutes but luckily
the family escaped uninjured.
In the face of these attacks the crown forces have been extremely
tardy in their reactions and it is with no small degree of
cynicism that nationalists will view this return to patrolling on
the part of the British Army. This is especially so as the
attacks in North Belfast are being carried out by the UDA's `C'
compoany, effectively set up by British covert operatives and
literally riddled with informers. Given that the UDA has long
been fed information by the RUC, further patrolling on the part
of the crown forces will not allay nationalist fears or
suspicions
Moreover, these crown forces patrols are mostly taking place in
nationalist areas and are being seen as a further provocation of
those communities.
The RUC, having informed numerous of those North Belfast
residents who were targeted that their lives were under threat,
have done little to prevent the attacks.
For nationalists throughout the North, the UDA ceasefire does not
exist. And thoughout this latest campaign of terror, mainstream
unionist politicians have remained silent. The Ulster Unionist
Party has a direct responsibility here. David Trimble and UDP
representatives have walked into negotiations side by side, the
UUP helped elect the UDP's Frank McCoubrey as deputy mayor of
Belfast. Trimble & Co. cannot pretend that the attacks are not
happening nor that they have no influence.
To highlight the threat faced by Northern nationalists, Sinn
Féin's Gerry Kelly is to lead a delegation of people from these
areas to meet Dublin Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen in
Leinster House today, Thursday, 8 February.
Said Kelly: ``The Dublin government has a responsibility for
citizens living in the North. I will be impressing upon Mr Cowen
the importance of his role in bringing pressure to bear on the
British government to bring an end to these attacks. It has to be
remembered that the UDA was established by British intelligence
30 years ago and that it, through groups like FRU and the RUC
Special Branch have armed, trained and directed elements within
the UDA throughout that time.''
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