More peace talks strains as UDA prisoners `reassess'

Further strains have been placed on the peace process with Ulster Defence Association prisoners warning they are "readdressing" their position on continued loyalist participation in the Stormont talks. One UDA prisoner said the loyalist ceasefire was "very shaky".

UDA prisoners released from the Maze for 10-day Christmas parole yesterday complained that republicans were dictating the peace process. The UDA prisoners, who were among 160 republican and loyalist inmates given parole yesterday, warned that they would reassess their position on their "continuing support for the faltering talks process".

The most emphatic expression of loyalist frustration at the lack of early releases for loyalist prisoners came from UDA prisoner Billy Adams outside the Maze.

"The ceasefire is very shaky at the moment. Things seem to be going the way of republicans and this is the most dangerous phase since the talks started. There are dangerous times ahead," he said. "We want to see our political party [the Ulster Democratic Party] making progress but they are being pushed aside. They do not seem to be making any progress no matter how hard they try."

His complaint followed on a warning from the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), which represents the UVF, that it may withdraw from the talks because of its belief that republicans were winning too many concessions.

A number of high-profile republican prisoners granted parole yesterday, including the Brighton bomber Pat Magee. He made no comment on his release.

Adding to the pressure on the talks are demands by four Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MPs - Mr William Ross, Mr William Thompson, Mr Roy Beggs, and Mr Clifford Forsythe - that the party should withdraw. In the face of all this pressure the Northern Secretary Dr Mo Mowlam said she wanted to maintain confidence in both communities in the context of "fairness and justice". She did not accept any predictions that one or more parties would pull out of the talks and played down any notion of a threat to the loyalist ceasefire.

"With the support of people across Northern Ireland and of all Northern Ireland's friends through out the world I am confident that an agreement can be reached against a background of peace on both sides," she said in a Christmas message yesterday.

Dr Mowlam, after her meeting with the PUP, met the UDP to hear its concerns about UDA prisoners yesterday. She indicated there could be movement on the issue of loyalist prisoners. "I have listened very carefully to the views of both unionist (loyalist) parties, and I will go away and think about it, which is what I am doing," she said.

The UDA, in its statement, said loyalist paramilitaries were now in the fourth year of their ceasefire. It claimed the talks were "working to a republican agenda of appeasement and constant concession to Sinn Fein/IRA.

"As loyalist prisoners we have used our influence in calling and maintaining our ceasefire. We have witnessed government concessions to the republicans on all fronts, be it a reduction in security levels or the erosion of political and cultural identity," the UDA statement added. "We ask, therefore, where is the parity of esteem for loyalism and its prisoners of conflict?"

After his meeting with Dr Mowlam, the UDP leader Mr Gary McMichael said there was "severe alienation" within the loyalist community. He accused the British government of adopting a "lopsided approach" to the peace process.

Mr McMichael, notwithstanding the UDA statement, said his party was still committed to the talks. But he added: "There is a growing feeling within unionism and loyalism that the government is valuing the concerns of nationalism above that of loyalism and unionism.

"There is a need for rapid movement on Mo Mowlam's part to try and retrieve this situation."

Mr McMichael said unionists and loyalists believed that in relation to confidence building measures there was an imbalance in favour of republicans. "If the government continues along the road it is going these talks will not be viable," he added.