London - Two major Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary groups have announced that they have destroyed their weapons, bringing them into line with a variety of peace agreements. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Red Hand Commando (RHC) additionally said they would respect local laws. Another group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) said it has started destroying its weapons.
The groups are responsible for almost 1,000 murders of mainly Catholics during the region's bloody 30-year conflict between Catholics and Protestants.
The UVF and RHC, two of the largest Protestant and loyalist paramilitary groups, stated that the act of decommissioning of weapons was done "to further augment the establishment of accountable democratic governance in this region of the UK, to remove the pretext that loyalist weaponry is an obstacle to the development of our communities and to compound our legacy of integrity to the peace process."
The UVF said weapon's destruction process began last autumn but was suspended after dissident republicans killed two British soldiers and a policeman in March.
"Assurances were sought from the (British) government and from the Irish government that those responsible, in whatever jurisdiction, would be vigorously pursued and the failures of 1969 (when the conflict began) would not be revisited upon our community," the statement said.
"Only when forthright assurances were given and it became clear that they would be honoured did our process resume."
The pro-British anti-Catholic UVF became active in the mid-1960s following the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Irish Rising against British rule amid early calls for full civil rights for Catholics in Northern Ireland.
The UDA said: "The dark days are now behind us and it is time to move on. There is no place for guns and violence in the new society we are building. It is time to work for a better future."
"This is a truly momentous day in the history of progressive loyalism," said Dawn Purvis, leader of the UVF-aligned Progressive Unionist Party. "The decommissioning of all weapons by the UVF and RHC shows that peaceful, stable, inclusive democracy is the way forward for our country."
Among those welcoming the news were British ministers for Northern Ireland affairs as well as the largely Catholic pro-independence party Sinn Fein, Catholic leader Cardinal Sean Brady and Irish President Mary McAleese.
