Loyalist paramilitaries have announced an end to the feud which has claimed seven lives and left hundreds homeless.
Senior representatives from the Ulster Defence Association, the Ulster Volunteer Force, and the UVF-aligned Red Hand Commando have been involved in talks aimed at ending the loyalist infighting in west and north Belfast for weeks.
It is believed members of the UDA's "inner council" and the UVF "brigade command" as well as representatives from the Red Hand Commando met in November. The leaderships produced a package, which was put to their members for agreement.
After a meeting yesterday afternoon the leaderships issued a joint statement. "We fully recognise the pain and suffering that has been inflicted on our community and we resolve that under no circumstances will such events be repeated," it said.
"Each organisation is further committed to an open-ended, and all-encompassing cessation of hostilities," it said. The statement said a series of mechanisms had been created by the leaderships and members at local level throughout each organisation to ensure any disputes that arose were resolved in a peaceful manner.
The agreement did not cover the dissident Loyalist Volunteer Force, the Red Hand Defenders, Orange Volunteers or the Loyalist Freedom Fighters.
Mr David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party, which has links to the UVF, said the groups had produced a "very credible statement" and said the deal "has got to be good news".
Mr John White, chairman of the Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political wing, said he believed the organisations were determined to avoid "another futile feud".
The feud arose out of simmering tensions between the two groups and erupted on the Shankill Road in west Belfast in August. Three men died following violence at a UDA-linked "festival". More than 200 people were forced out of their homes and the area was effectively partitioned.