UVF renounces violence

The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) has renounced violence and plans to open talks on disarmament.Leaders of the loyalist terror group, one of the deadliest and most feared paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland, said it would assume a non-military, civilianised role after putting its weapons beyond use.They pledged that recruitment, military training and targeting have stopped and all its so-called active service units de-activated.A statement read out by one of the UVF's founding members, convicted killer Gusty Spence, said: "We have taken the above measures in an earnest attempt to augment the return of accountable democracy to the people of Northern Ireland and, as such, to engender confidence that the constitutional question has now been firmly settled."The UVF declared a ceasefire in 1994, just after the IRA's first cessation, as part of the process which led towards the April 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.But the organisation, which has been responsible for hundreds of murders and some of the worst terrorist atrocities, continued to kill.The statement said the group had addressed the methodology of transforming from a military to civilian organisation by implementing a series of measures in every operational and command area.The statement added: "We encourage our volunteers to embrace the challenges which continue to face their communities and support their continued participation in non-military capacities."We reaffirm our opposition to all criminality and instruct our volunteers to co-operate fully with the lawful authorities in all possible instances."Moreover, we state unequivocally that any volunteer engaged in criminality does so in direct contravention of Brigade Command and thus we welcome any recourse through due process of law."All volunteers are further encouraged to show support for credible restorative justice projects so that they, with their respective communities, may help eradicate criminality and anti-social behaviour in our society."The UVF urged all violent dissidents to halt their campaigns and for the British and Irish authorities to deal swiftly with the threat.Failure to do so would inevitably provoke another generation of loyalists towards armed resistance, they warned.The statement added that "we reaffirm the legitimacy of our tactical response to violent Nationalism yet reiterate the sincere expression of abject and true remorse to all innocent victims of the conflict".© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | May 3, 2007

Tags:. .uvf. .contravention. .engender. .ira. .agreement