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."