>From Sunday Herald - 09/July/2000 > > > > IT is a moment, and an image, which Northern Ireland long thought it had put > behind it. A loyalist gunman, masked, his pistol cocked and fitted with a > silencer, standing before the cameras, making explicit his intention to pull > the trigger and take a human life. > > But this was not a loyalist gunman vowing to take the lives of Catholics or > target IRA men. This was a loyalist gunman from the Ulster Volunteer Force > promising to murder fellow Protestants - fellow para militaries, in fact. > > In a specially convened meeting in Portadown, between the leadership of the > mid-Ulster UVF and the Sunday Herald, two of the organisation's > most senior members made public for the first time that the UVF now > considered itself at war with the rival loyalist para military group, the > LVF, the Loyalist Volunteer Force. > > To mainland Britain, the idea of two loyalist terrorist groups turning their > guns on each other will be not only be shocking but absurd. But the battle > between these two heavily armed and bloodily violent groups is rooted in the > annual Drumcree disturbances - and ironically that is why the UVF have gone > to war with the LVF at the very time when loyalists are gathering in > solidarity to push the Orangemen of Drumcree down the Garvaghy Road. > > The LVF was formed in 1996 when loyalist godfather Billy Wright, then leader > of the mid-Ulster UVF which controls the Portadown area, split from his old > comrades. He wanted the UVF as an organisation to publicly support the > Drumcree Orangeman by putting their men out on the street, in a display > designed to intimidate the government into allowing the Garvaghy Road march > to go ahead. The Belfast leadership said no - it was under ceasefire and > said the battle should be considered one for the Orangemen to fight alone. > > Wright defied the leadership and set up the LVF as a rival terror gang with > its stronghold in Portadown. He was given just days to leave the Province or > else face execution. Wright was later killed by Republican gunmen while in > jail. > > Since then an undeclared feud has been simmering. In January this year, > Porta down UVF man Richard Jamieson was shot dead. No organisation claimed > responsibility for the killing, but the UVF were certain the LVF was behind > it. > > Both groups differ pol itically. Although both are on ceasefire, the UVF > supports the Good Friday Agreement, while the LVF is opposed to it, seeing > it as a betrayal of loyalism. Last week the LVF took to the streets of > Portadown in support of the Drumcree Orangemen - a blatant gesture to the > UVF that they were vying for total control of mid-Ulster, not only the > heartland of loyalism but the traditional home to the most brutal units of > loyalist terrorism. The mid -Ulster UVF were behind the Dublin-Monaghan > bombings in the early 1970s, the single biggest loss of life on a single day > during the entire Troubles. > > Two of the mid-Ulster leadership said last night they considered themselves > to be at war with the LVF - the first time either organisation has publicly > admitted a feud or pledged itself to murder, and a statement which makes the > UVF the only large terrorist organisation to effectively break ceasefire. > One of the UVF leaders was among the most influential members of the > organisation - a man on whom the Belfast leadership depend and listen to. > > As his second-in-command posed for pictures, in an open display of > aggression against the LVF, the prominent UVF officer said: "We consider the > LVF to be an organisation steeped not only in anti-social behaviour such as > drug dealing, but also in the murder of a loyalist. Their killing of Richard > Jamieson is the direct cause for our public declaration of war at this time. > > "The LVF are hated among Protestant people. They have terrorised and brought > crime and drugs to their own neighbourhoods, and we will remove them from > the face of loyalism." > > In a safe house on the outskirts of Portadown, the leader of the > ultra-hardline LVF made clear that his organisation intended to begin > military operations against the republican community and security forces. > > The leadership of the outlawed terror group also made clear it intended to > respond to any attacks on its membership by the UVF, which it accused of > killing at least 15 Protestants since 1994, and said its rival organisation > could no longer be considered loyalist. Its leader described the UVF as "a > direct threat to loyalism and loyalists". > > The LVF leader said his organisation had tried to open dialogue with the UVF > to mediate. "The UVF has not responded to our overtures and > they are the aggressors. They obviously have no interest in drawing this > feud to a close. The LVF was not formed to kill Protestants, but to defend > them. We do not want to go to war with the UVF, but if they attempt to kill > any of our volunteers we will not hesitate to respond in kind." > > The LVF, which decommissioned a small amount of arsenal in 1998, said it > would not surrender "another round" given the current situation. "We have > the firepower and the volunteers to aggressively defend ourselves against > the UVF, to carry out military operations as part of our campaign over > Drumcree and to defend Protestant people against unacceptable treatment by > the security forces," its leader said. > > "The UVF and its political wing the PUP hav sold out Protestant people. We > are the young, new face of loyalism." The LVF said the RUC > had fired live rounds at loyalists throughout the week, and accused the > police of betraying Protestants. > > Members of the LVF posed for photographs in paramilitary uniforms before an > Ulster flag armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and a Browning .9mm pistol. > "Remember we were the last loyalist group to call a ceasefire. We are the > militant face of loyalism. We are here, we are ready. We will act." > ________________________________________________________________________
