UDA IGNORED AS BOMBERS STRIKE AGAIN

Posted by Jim on October 10, 2015

There has been a deafening silence from unionist leaders in response to
a statement attributed to the unionist paramilitary UDA in which it
declares it will never “go away”.

The statement was made in a loyalist magazine which is associated with
the UDA in south Belfast.

“The UDA are still in existence and won’t be leaving any stage whilst
Republicans of any faction still exist,” it declared.

The British government has also refused to acknowledge the statement.

And after attempting to play down the levels of UDA violence following
a double bombing in the County Antrim village of Ahoghill, there was a
great reluctance by the police to identify those behind a sectarian
bomb attack on a home in Derry which has been blamed locally on the
UDA.

Rachael Keys has described how she narrowly escaped injury when the
device ripped into her house in Lincoln Court in Derry’s Waterside last
Saturday night.

She described seeing a “big flash and loads and loads of smoke” when
the bomb detonated.

“I was sitting in the house, in the living-room, and the next thing the
whole lot came in round me,” she said.

“It really just scared the life out of me.”

The woman moved into the house 10 months ago but said the PSNI had
warned her it would not be safe for her to return.

“You just, sort of, get used to people putting you out of places, they
obviously just don’t want you here,” she said.

HYPOCRISY

Last month, the DUP withdrew its Ministers from the Six-County
powersharing Executive in response to allegations that the Provisional
IRA continues to exist.

Declaring it could not be “business as usual”, DUP leader Peter Robinson
announced a tactic or reappointing Ministers who would then offer their
resignations. This week it emerged that these Ministers are still
receiving their executive salaries, despite a party promise this would
not happen, and still using their ministerial cars.

On Tuesday, Sinn Fein responded to the loyalist statement by asking
unionist leaders where their outrage was. South Down representative
Chris Hazzard said their silence was “in deafening contrast” to their
reaction to claims regarding the Provisional IRA.

The continued activities of the UDA are being almost entirely ignored
by the political establishment and the mainstream media in Britain and
Ireland.

Drug-dealing and other forms of criminality have grown, but still
interspersed with bouts of sectarian violence and inter-factional
feuding. Recruitment posters have appeared in several areas.

“This is the same UDA whose political wing unionism stood shoulder to
shoulder with, in an effort to force an Orange march through a
nationalist community,” Mr Hazzard said.

“Perhaps that’s why there are no statements or social media posts from
the DUP or UUP on the UDA’s continued existence.

“Or maybe it’s just that they don’t care when it comes to unionist
paramilitaries.”

TALKS PROCESSION

Meanwhile, the crisis talks at Stormont, ostensibly intended to deal
with paramilitarism, are continuing British Prime Minister David Cameron
said he believes there is a will among the politicians to solve the
problems.

He added: “You can’t have politicians that are holding a ballot box in
one hand and a gun in the other, in any shape or form,” he said. The
comment is understood to have been directed at Sinn Fein, rather than
the unionist parties.

And speaking on BBC radio on Wednesday night, the DUP’s Edwin Poots
spoke of a “stench that still rises” from Sinn Fein, but added that “we
have peace in Northern Ireland, so we’ll hold our noses and do business
with you.”

Despite the offensive slur, the statement has been interpreted as a sign
of progress.

Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness told a meeting of his party on Wednesday
that the political talks will be successful “against the odds”.

He said the devolved institutions “are worth saving and I believe the
vast majority of people share that view”.

But he said the parties must agree to protect the most vulnerable and
ensure Stormont has “a workable budget so that public services are
delivered to the standard that the public expect and deserve”.