Irish Republican News and Information, 24-25 October 2002,
http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
UNIONISTS, LOYALISTS PLAN STRATEGY AS VIOLENCE ESCALATES
A pipe bomb attack in a which a Catholic teenager was injured was
'staged' by nationalists, a unionist councillor has claimed.
Unionist politicians, including an elected councillor, have
repeated claims that the litany of loyalist violence in interface
areas is an invention of nationalists -- despite formal denials
by senior members of the RUC/PSNI police.
Meanwhile, members of the two largest unionist parties,
the UUP and DUP, are plotting unionist strategy with
representatives of the North's deadliest loyalist groups
at a hideaway conference in South Africa.
The parties refused to withdraw from talks with loyalists on
forging a "united vision for unionism" despite the bomb attacks
anf the seizure of a deadly haul of loyalist weapons.
On Tuesday evening Catholic teenager Noel Brady (14) was injured
in a pipe-bomb explosion in the nationalist Short Strand. The
area in east Belfast has witnessed an upsurge in loyalist attacks
over the last 10 days.
Ulster Unionist councillor Michael Copeland expressed concerns at
such violence, but controversially said he remained sceptical,
given "previous false claims" that bombs had been thrown by
loyalists.
Frankie Gallagher, of the UDA-aligned Ulster Political Research
Group, said he did not believe there had been an attack, and
claimed it was "green propaganda".
But last night a 67-year-old man who was also caught up in the
blast which injured the youth said: "There was no possible way
that bomb could have been thrown from anywhere other than the
loyalist side."
Following a double pipe-bomb attack on Catholic homes in Bryson
Street last week, former UUP mayor of Belfast Jim Rodgers claimed
bomb attacks in the nationalist Short Strand area were being
staged by republicans for propaganda reasons. This allegation was
dismissed by RUC/PSNI at the time.
However, despite a senior officer saying there was "no evidence"
to substantiate claims that nationalists were fabricating attacks
on their own community, Mr Rodgers last night stood firmly by his
comments.
"I would have to dispute what he (the senior officer) is saying.
The police do not always get their facts right. There is clear
evidence that there has been devices deliberately left by
republicans to blame loyalists," he said.
Sinn Fein councillor Joe O’Donnell lashed out at the unionist
claims.
"When you have a hole blown in a steel shutter, two people rushed
to hospital with fairly serious injuries, it is quite difficult
to argue that these bombs are not being thrown.
"It might well be that it is not the UDA that is responsible.
What we do know is that pipe bombs are being thrown into this
area from the loyalist side of the interface, people are being
injured and homes are being destroyed."
VIOLENCE INCREASE
There has been a general increase in levels of violence since the
North's power sharing instututions were brought down by the
British government last week.
Today, the so-called 'Continuity IRA', a small group of
republican dissidents, were blamed for a bomb attack in Belfast
city centre.
A hijacked Ford Transit van carrying the device was abandoned in
Franklin Street, where the bomb partially exploded as the area
was being evacuated.
Meanwhile, a leading member of the loyalist paramilitary LVFhas
been arrested following a bank robbery in County Armagh.
He had been involved in talks to end a bitter feud between the
LVF and the rival UDA, in which three men have been shot dead.
In addition, two loyalists were jailed yesterday for possession
of material likely to be of use to terrorists, while a Catholic
man is still fighting for his life after he was viciously beaten
in a suspected sectarian attack in Larne.
UDA WEAPONS STORE FOUND
And a huge arsenal of UDA weapons was discovered in the roof
space of a house in the loyalist Rathcoole estate on the
outskirts of North Belfast on Tuesday.
A 38-year-old man was arrested after five sub machine guns, four
handguns and a shotgun were recovered on Tuesday, along with
thousands of rounds of ammunition. An anti-personnel keyhole
bomb, previously used by the UDA, was also uncovered.
Local councillor Briege Meehan said the find of a keyhole bomb
was a very sinister development: "This type of bomb is designed
to go off when someone opens a door, we should be very careful
now we know the UDA have these types of bombs."
"We have had four killings carried out by the UDA recently in
this area," she said. "Ciaran Cummins was killed as he waited for
a lift to work, Gavin Brett was killed mistakenly for a Catholic,
Danny McColgan was killed as he arrived for work in Rathcoole and
in July this year 18-year-old Gerard Lawlor was killed. We all
know these killings were carried out by the UDA but no one has
ever been arrested or charged with these killings.
"The question that needs answered now is were any of these
weapons used in any of these killings? We need answers," said
Meehan.
UNIONIST 'HYPOCRISY'
Meanwhile, mainstream unionists were last night accused of
hypocrisy after they flew to South Africa with the political
representatives of the paramilitary UDA less than 24 hours after
their massive weapons haul was uncovered.
Members of the Ulster Unionist Party, the DUP, the PUP, which
represents the paramilitary UVF, and the UDA-linked Ulster
Political Research Group left for South Africa yesterday for
week-long talks aimed at devising a ‘joint unionist vision’ to
guide policy.
SDLP assembly member Alban Maginness accused unionists of "total
double standards" over their talks with loyalists, as compared
with their reaction to republican violence.
"It is the height of hypocrisy on the part of the DUP and UUP to
be in South Africa with members of an organisation which is
inextricably linked to the UDA, less than 24 hours after a
weapons haul belonging to that group was discovered by police" he
said.
Ulster Unionist MP for Lagan Valley Jeffrey Donaldson described
the matter as an "irrelevance".
He said he did not see any need for the UUP delegates to withdraw
from the South African talks.
"The unionist community has consistently rejected the political
representatives of the UDA. Loyalists do not get support in the
unionist community."