RIRA ‘most active and dangerous’
Dissident republicans continue to pose the greatest threat in Northern Ireland but concerns remain over the role of the loyalist UVF, the paramilitary watchdog has said.
In the latest report by the Independent Monitoring Commission, it was claimed the number of explosive devices used by dissidents had doubled over a six-month period.
“The high level of dissident activity would undoubtedly have led to many more deaths, injuries and destruction had it not been for the operations of the law enforcement and security agencies North and South and their ever closer cross-border co-operation,” the report read.
Stating that the two factions of the Real IRA, especially Óglaigh na hÉireann, are “by far the most active and dangerous”, the IMC concluded that their members would have killed security forces “if they had been able to do so”.
The monitoring body also remained concerned by the situation regarding the UVF – in light of serious criminal activity its members were involved in – and has said the issue of its re-specification “must be kept under close and legally informed consideration”.
The IMC revealed that the UVF leadership had sanctioned the gathering of intelligence about suspected dissident republicans. It also claimed members had discussed obtaining weapons, but “without sanction and not part of any plan”.
Questions have been asked about the validity of the loyalist terror group’s ceasefire and decommissioning, in the wake of Bobby Moffett’s murder and recent riots in Newtownabbey – where police have said a UVF gunman was spotted.
The IMC has already claimed the killing of Mr Moffett on the Shankill in broad daylight was sanctioned by the UVF leadership, but did not break the terms of the ceasefire. The riots on the edge of the Rathcoole estate did not take place within the six-month period examined in the Commission’s latest report.
‘Heavy responsibility’
Stating that the onus lay with the leadership to move the UVF towards becoming a fully civilian organisation, the IMC noted the loss of senior members of the PUP – the political party linked to the UVF.
“Those who remain in the party assumed a very heavy responsibility which we hope they will prove able to fulfil,” the IMC said.
Assembly member and former PUP leader Dawn Purvis quit the party after the Shankill murder. She has since been replaced by Brian Ervine, the brother of the late David Ervine.
The 25th IMC report also claimed the Continuity IRA remained “very active” and that “although it did not operate at the same heightened pitch as the RIRA, it threatened and might have taken lives on a number of occasions”.
The INLA was still considered to have ended its “armed struggle” but to have some members involved in serious crime, while the Commission considered the Provisional IRA to have “maintained its political course”.
The IMC also noted what it called the “efforts of senior figures in the republican movement to try to control the disorders”.
On the loyalist side, the LVF was considered a “small organisation without any political purpose” and so-called dissident loyalists were judged to have no significant support.
But the IMC reported a “complex and mixed picture” when it came to the UDA and its breakaway faction, the South East Antrim brigade.
The Commission suggested some recruitment had been carried out by the UDA, which may also have retained some weapons despite decommissioning. Although its progress was considered “patchy”, the IMC determined that “the leadership as a whole does not want the organisation to return to its old ways”.
But the report added that there were “major issues” for the leadership of the South East Antrim faction, due to the group’s involvement in a number of attacks and serious crime.
The Independent Monitoring Commission is set to deliver one final report next spring before being shut down.
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