The UDA leadership has refused to distance itself from its Shankill Road unit and insisted that it remains an "integral part" of the paramilitary organisation. In a statement, the UDA said attempts to "isolate and demonise" the unit, which was led by Johnny Adair, were making a resolution of the loyalist feud more difficult.
Meanwhile, the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, has said both the UDA and UVF must engage in dialogue in order to end the feud, which has claimed three lives since it began just over a fortnight ago.
It started after clashes on the Shankill Road between the local UDA and UVF. Mr Mandelson moved to revoke Adair's early release licence from prison and he was rearrested and returned to jail.
The UVF and some politicians have blamed the Shankill UDA unit for the feud and claimed it was acting independently and was isolated from the wider UDA. Yesterday's UDA statement said: " . . . C Company, 2nd Battalion UDA/UFF, based around the Lower Shankill area, is and will remain an integral part of our organisation. Attempts to isolate and demonise that company are doomed to failure and can only make a resolution of the current dispute infinitely more difficult than they already are.
"Whilst the dispute is largely localised, a viable and durable resolution can only be achieved if the resolution is all-encompassing". Mr Mandelson yesterday defended his decision to send Adair back to jail. "I do not think there is any doubt at all that arresting Johnny Adair was the right thing to do. People must have confidence in the rule of law. Where you have former prisoners like that breaking the terms of the licence of their release then that leaves me no alternative.
"What is going to resolve the difficulties we have and this very ugly feud that is going on is talking, not continued, mindless violence." Mr Mandelson welcomed the efforts of those working behind the scenes to open dialogue between the two sides. He acknowledged there were responsible leaders in both factions.
"We need proper mediation, not continued violence which is simply hitting out and hurting the very communities which they claim to be representing," he said