The head of the body given the task of securing paramilitary disarmament yesterday said he hoped loyalist terror groups would engage with them properly.
General John de Chastelain
General John de Chastelain expressed disappointment that the loyalist Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force had not followed the same decommissioning process as the Provisional IRA.
However he hoped ongoing contact between the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning with them would eventually bear fruit.
“I am encouraged by the fact that the ceasefires are in place,” he said after taking part in a symposium in Belfast reflecting on the negotiations which led to the Belfast Agreement 10 years ago.
“Weapons, whether they are used for criminal purposes rather than paramilitary, should not be there.
“I think it is important paramilitary groups that are still holding on to arms should let us deal with them in the way that was legislated for.”
Last year the Ulster Volunteer Force announced it had put its own weapons beyond reach as part of its moves away from paramilitaries. However that did not fulfil the conditions laid down for General de Chastelain’s commission.
The Ulster Defence Association has also resisted attempts to get it to destroy its weapons.
General de Chastelain, however, noted that republicans had been bullish about not giving up any weapons in the past.
“For a long time in this part of the world some paramilitary groups said not one bullet, not once ounce, but things did happen,” he said. “Things will happen as long as the governments keep this commission in position to do that.”
PA