beatonthestreet
06-19-2009, 09:59 AM
In a momentous occasion today finally the Loyalist groups UVF, UDA and RHC have assented to the will of the people and entered the 'decommission' process...
This will have profound affects one would hope in the 6 counties...
Even though smaller renegade groups from the Republican and Loyalist communities will attempt to poison the hopes of the ordinary Irish Person.
ALL the main protagonists in the long Irish war have now signed up to peace....
Anyone familiar with the 'battle scarred' perimeters of what are seen as Catholic areas and Protestant cant help but notice the 1000s of vacant properties where people quite naturally never felt safe residing...
Peace comes dropping slowly....
Lets hope soon that we can start to utilise these properties for those that need them...
I have long advocated for anti-pogroms, whereby we claim back these properties for our community to live safely within...
Today hopefully will be the start of that process
Loyalist groups 'destroy weapons' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8108202.stm)
The Troubles Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles)
beatonthestreet
06-30-2009, 06:01 AM
The body responsible for overseeing decommissioning in Northern Ireland has confirmed that the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando have disposed of their weapons.
In a statement, the Independent lnternational Commission on Decommissioning, headed by General John de Chastelain, said it had witnessed a 'major decommissioning event'.
On Saturday, both groups indicated that their weapons and explosives were 'totally and irreversibly beyond use'.
source RTE (http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0629/decommissioning.html)
To me this is more than a a momentous occassion... When I was operating on the streets of Belfast full time, I had to approach the 'leaderships' of certain organisations to guarantee safe passage for the message and safety of the people who were with me, a guarantee that we would have immunity from blah blah....
At that time i met some 'great' loyalists who not only agreed but assisted.... A special mention must be given to David Irvine from the PUPs (http://www.pup-ni.org.uk/home/default.aspx) (RIP)
Hopefully these recent actions will mean that we can as 'united homeless activists' can and will operate in certain areas without guns and threats pointed at us....
Peace is dropping slowly..... lets hope we can bring this peace process to our streets and start working TOGETHER for a solution....
statement in full....
Ulster Volunteer Force & Red Hand Commando command staff.
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.
This process was initiated in autumn 2008 when the Combined Loyalist Military Command was reconvened to address the outstanding issue of Loyalist military material. As a result of those discussions, all constituent parts agreed to set in place the internal arrangements necessary to begin the disarmament process.
In March 2009, all preparations were suspended following the attacks on UK citizens at Masserene Barracks and Craigavon. Assurances were sought from the Government, and from the Irish Government, that those responsible, in whatever jurisdiction, would be vigorously pursued and the failures of 1969 would not be revisited upon our community.
Only when forthright assurances were given, and it became clear that they would be honoured, did our process resume.
Across every operational area in Northern Ireland and in all regions of Great Britain; in conjunction with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning; in the presence of independent international witnesses and consistent with the modalities and schemes agreed upon by our interlocutor; the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando have now concluded that process.
We have done so to further augment the establishment of accountable democratic governance in this region of the United Kingdom; 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.
We believe the significance and substance of our actions will satisfy the above objectives.
For God and Ulster.
