Pro-British paramilitary forces said on Saturday they had completed a major milestone in the Northern Ireland peace process by scrapping their weapons in front of independent witnesses. The moves, confirmed by the British and Irish governments, reinforced commitment across the sectarian divide to ending violence but did not remove a threat from hard-line splinter groups operating on both sides.
"The leadership of the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando today confirms it has completed the process of rendering ordnance totally and irreversibly beyond use," the UVF and the Red Hand Commando (RHC) said. The statement was read to reporters in Belfast by a man representing the groups and wearing an ordinary suit, a change from the past when paramilitary spokesmen would address the media in masks, toting guns.
Mainly Protestant military organisations that want to keep Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom have been under pressure for years to start getting rid of arms following the Irish Republican Army's decision to dispose of its weapons in 2005. "The leadership of the UVF and RHC have delivered on what they said they would do," said Shaun Woodward, Britain's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, confirming the UVF and RHC had completed decommissioning in cooperation with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.
Northern Ireland has enjoyed relative peace since a 1998 deal ended the predominantly Catholic IRA's 30-year military campaign to end British control of the province and unite the island of Ireland. The Ulster Defence Association, which together with its allies the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) had fought against the IRA since the early 1970s, said it had also embarked on a process towards full decommissioning.
"The struggle has ended," the UDA said in a statement. "Peace and democracy have been secured and the need for armed resistance has gone. Consequently we are putting our arsenal of weaponry permanently beyond use." Efforts to consolidate peace were challenged in March when Republican splinter groups the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA killed two British soldiers and a policeman. But strong condemnation of the attacks from all sides of the political spectrum and on both sides of the border ended up uniting much of the province's population in favour of expediting the peace process.