IMC reports positive steps from loyalists

The British government should consider whether the UVF should continue to be classified as a paramiliatary group, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) said today.

The 18th report by the IMC, which was published this afternoon, recognises the efforts being made by loyalist groups to move away from criminality although it warns that there's still much more progress to be made.

However, it reveals that dissident republican groups are continuing to engage in a range of criminal and terrorist activities.

"Both the UVF and the UDA have signalled a desire to follow a more peaceful  path; the UVF in particular has made important strides in that direction," the IMC said.

It said that in the light of progress made by the UVF, the British government should revisit the question of despecification of the UVF.

"Individual members of the organisation have sought to procure weapons, probably on an opportunistic basis, but in our view this has not  been as a result of any decision by the leadership to increase the UVF’s stocks,  and indeed the leadership has taken some action against offending members on the weapons issue," it said.

The IMC said that the split between the mainstream and the South East Antrim faction of the UDA  remains unresolved and continues to create tension.  It added that the split was inhibiting the group's leadership  from making significant practical progress.

The Commission said it found no evidence to suggest that the IRA was involved in criminal and terrorist activities during the six month review period.

"We remained firmly of the view that PIRA was fully committed to pursuing the political path and that it would not be diverted from it. We did not think it was involved in terrorist or other illegal activity and we believed it had continued to instruct members to refrain from committing crime.Some members however had not fully moved on from the view that threats and social exclusion were an appropriate way of dealing with anti-social behaviour.

"We do not believe that the organisation was involved in terrorism or in any preparatory activity for it during the six months under review. The leadership remained firmly committed to the political path and, as we said in our previous report, we do not believe that it will be diverted from it. We do not think that the organisation itself was responsible for any shootings, assaults or intimidation, all of which would be contrary to its policy.

"We believe that there have been attempts to reduce the size of the organisation  and to encourage members to report criminality to the police. We recognise that there are senior figures in the leadership who wish to turn the efforts of members towards the development of their own communities, but these aspirations have
so far met with limited success."

While mainstream loyalist and republican groups have been found to be making attempts to stick to a political path, the IMC recounts a litany of paramilitary activity carried out by dissident republican groupsin recent months including extortion, drug-dealing and brothel-keeping.

In addition, the IMC report notes that dissident republican groups are continuing to target the home and places of work of PSNI officers and members of the public and are actively involved in making hoax calls and planting hoax devices.

From September 2007 to 29 February 2008, there was 1 paramilitary murder carried out, compared with 3 in the preceding six month period.

However, the number of casualties from shootings and assaults increased from 17 to 36, a rise of 112 per cent.

Commenting on the IMC's findings,  Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan said that dissident organisations "remain a blight on the democratic landscape of Ireland, north and south."