Talks between the political representatives of the UVF and the UDA due to take place today were reported early this morning to have been postponed.
Reuters news agency quoted an Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) source saying that a preliminary meeting which, it had been hoped, would lead to substantive talks aimed at ending the feud which had so far claimed three lives in the Shankill Road, was now off.
"It has unfortunately been postponed. It's a delicate situation so I don't want to get into specifics," said the source. "It emerged late this evening on the PUP (Progressive Unionist Party) side that they felt there were still some unresolved issues. They were addressed but the PUP decided that it was better if it was postponed."
The BBC quoting a source close to the PUP, said the party blamed continuing intimidation from unspecified quarters as the reason for the postponement.
Senior members of the PUP, which reflects UVF thinking, and the UDP, which is representative of the UDA, had earlier indicated they would co-operate with an initiative put in train following political and community pressure.
However, in an early indication that difficulties might arise, PUP and UDP politicians warned that it could take some time before the paramilitaries would meet face to face. Mr David Adams, of the UDP, who had been due to attend the, said there was a better opportunity now for conciliation but it would be a "long process" before the dispute was fully solved.
Mr David Ervine, of the PUP, who was also due to attend the talks, said he would do all he could to help stop the violence. "We are doing our best to try to create the circumstances where exploration will take place - that is not easy. If it does happen, we will need space, serious space."
Up to last weekend, the UVF and PUP were insisting that there could be no resolution of the dispute until Johnny Adair's C Company on the Shankill was disbanded. Since then the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, met the UDP and PUP, while local community groups on the Shankill demanded a resolution of the feud.
A meeting was held on the Shankill yesterday on behalf of some 60 local community groups pleading for an end to the feud. Community activist Baroness May Blood said the people of the Shankill were becoming "deeply traumatised".
"We implore those who are involved in the unrest, who are also a part of our community, to find another way of resolving their differences for the good of all the people in the Shankill. Our worry is that if the situation continues the Shankill may not recover," she said on behalf of the groups.
