The Ulster Volunteer Force is to delay any announcement on its future and on its weaponry until after the November 24th deadline imposed by London and Dublin for progress towards power sharing at Stormont.
The illegal loyalist organisation, which is not deemed to be on ceasefire, is thought to be considering a political future. However, it emerged yesterday that both the UVF and the smaller Red Hand Commando are waiting to see what shape any "plan B" by the British and Irish governments will take if the DUP and Sinn Féin do not agree for an Executive at Stormont by the end of the year.
In an interview for Ulster Television and the Belfast Telegraph, a UVF spokesman said: "Whether it is called plan B, joint management or joint authority, it spells the same thing to this organisation." Claiming to speak with the full authority of the UVF leadership, the spokesman said that weapons decommissioning was "not on our agenda" and that their loyalist campaign was "justified" and "legitimate" because "the constitutional integrity of Northern Ireland was under threat".
"The pro-union people of Northern Ireland were under threat and this organisation responded commensurate to that level of threat." He added: "Whether the current consultation has reached its conclusion or not, the UVF will make no statement of future intentions until November 24th, and until we see in front of our eyes what this plan B scenario entails."
The organisation was the first on to the stage and would be the last to leave it, he added.
David Ervine, leader of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party, said it was significant the organisation made clear its position having been used by others in the past "as a sabre to rattle".
He said the question of weapons was not an issue for the UVF and that the organisation was more concerned with mindsets. He suggested that if a political deal was secured which reflected the will of the people "the weapons will follow".
Sinn Féin Newry Armagh MP Conor Murphy said the UVF comments implied a threat of violence.
"Given the opportunities for progress now, both governments and all political parties reject such threats and also that both governments live up to their commitments in terms of moving on after November 24th if the DUP refuse to rise to the challenge of forming an Executive," he said.
The SDLP's Alban Maginness said: "Eight years of focus must now be on full restoration of the Assembly and all the agreement's institutions - we should not be blackmailed by paramilitaries of any colour."
The IRA, in its Easter statement, distanced itself from what it called "former republicans" involved in crime and apologised to a Newry family for the death of a man in a bomb explosion in 1974.
Two IRA statements, signed by P O'Neill, appeared in the current edition of An Phoblacht.
In its traditional Easter message, the organisation said: "The IRA has no responsibility for the tiny number of republicans who have embraced criminal activity. They do so for self-gain. We repudiate this activity and denounce those involved." A second statement referred to the mysterious killing of Eugene McQuaid in an explosion at Killeen on the Armagh-Louth border.
It said that Mr McQuaid (35), an unemployed father of five, died when a device exploded prematurely and that the dead man was not a member of the IRA.