Ulster Defence Association
:''UFF redirects here, they are also the initials of the
United Freedom Front, a radical left-wing organisation in the US.
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The UDA flag in the town center of Ahoghill, County Antrim. The town has been the scene of anti-Catholic violence. |
The
Ulster Defence Association (
UDA) is a
loyalist paramilitary organisation in
Northern Ireland, outlawed as a
terrorist group in the
UK and
Republic of Ireland, which is perceived by its supporters as defending the loyalist community from
Irish republican terrorism. Its main objective during the
Troubles was to retain the British rule in Northern Ireland. Its main activities were the killing of
Roman Catholic civilians and to a lesser extent,
Irish nationalist politicians and
Irish republican paramilitaries.
The UDA was formed in 1971 as an
umbrella organisation for various loyalist groups. At its peak of strength it once held around 40,000 members, mostly part-time. It also originally had the motto 'law before violence' and was in fact a legal organisation until it was banned in August 1991. During this period of legality, the
Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) (a cover name for the UDA) committed a large number of murders, including that of
SDLP politician
Paddy Wilson in
1973.
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UDA mural in Shankill, Belfast |
In the
1970s the group favoured
Northern Ireland independence, but they have retreated from this position. The UDA was involved in the successful
Ulster Workers Council Strike in 1974, which brought down the
Sunningdale Agreement - an agreement loyalists thought conceded too much to nationalist demands. The UDA enforced this
general strike through widespread intimidation across Northern Ireland. The strike was led by Vanguard Assemblyman and UDA member,
Glenn Barr.
The UDA/UFF's official political position during the Troubles was that if the
Provisional Irish Republican Army called off its campaign of violence, then the UDA would do the same. However, if the British government announced that it was withdrawing from Northern Ireland, then the UDA would act as "the IRA in reverse". Presumably this meant attacking British or Irish government or security force targets.
The New Ulster Political Research Group (or NUPRG) was initially the political wing of the UDA, founded in 1978, which then evolved into the
Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party in 1981 under the leadership of
John McMichael, a prominent UDA member who was killed by the IRA in 1987, amid suspicion that he was set up to be killed by some of his UDA colleagues. In 1989, the ULDP changed its name to the
Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), which dissolved itself in 2001 following very limited electoral success.
Gary McMichael, son of
John McMichael, was the last leader of the UDP, which supported the signing of the
Good Friday Agreement but had poor electoral success and internal difficulties. The
Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) was subsequently formed to give political analysis to the UDA and act as community workers in loyalist areas. It is currently represented on
Belfast City Council.
The UDA was involved in some killings in the early 1970s, but most of its murders were carried out since the late
1980s. They benefited, along with the
Ulster Volunteer Force and, in the view of some Republican activists, a group called
Ulster Resistance set up by
Ian Paisley's
Democratic Unionist Party, from a shipment of arms imported from
South Africa in 1988. The weapons landed included rocket launchers, 200 rifles, 90 pistols and over 400 grenades. Although almost two thirds of these weapons were later recovered by the
RUC, they enabled to UDA to launch an assassination campaign against the Catholic/nationalist community in Northern Ireland. In 1992,
Brian Nelson a UDA member convicted of sectarian murders, revealed that he was also a
British Army agent. This led to allegations that the British Army and RUC were helping the UDA to target
Irish republican activists. UDA members have since confirmed that they received intelligence files on republicans from British Army and RUC intelligence sources.
[Peter Taylor Loyalists] Nevertheless, the UDA killed only two known republican paramiltaries in the conflict. The majority of their victims were Catholics with no political or paramilitary connections. One of the most notorious UDA attacks came in October 1993, when two UDA men attacked a restaurant called the Rising Sun in the predominantly Catholic village of
Greysteel,
County Londonderry, where 200 people were celebrating
Halloween. Eight people were killed and 19 wounded. This is known as the
Greysteel massacre. The UDA claimed the attack was in retaliation to the
Shankill Road bombing seven days earlier.
According to the Sutton database of deaths at the
University of Ulster's
CAIN project, the UDA was responsible for 112 killings during the Troubles. 78 of its victims were civilians (predominantly Catholics), 29 were other loyalist paramilitaries (including 22 of its own members), 3 were members of the security forces and just two were republican paramilitaries. Many believe that a number of these attacks were carried out with the assistance or complicity of the British army and/or the Royal Ulster Constabulary. This belief was later backed up by the
Stevens Enquiry although it hasn't yet been determined the exact number of people murdered as a result of collusion. The preferred modus operandi of the UDA was individual killings of - often random - civilian targets in nationalist areas, rather than large-scale bomb or mortar attacks.
The UDA is heavily involved in racketeering and in the drugs trade in Northern Ireland, and to a lesser extent in western
Scotland. The group had also developed strong links with
neo-nazi groups in
Britain such as
Combat 18, though in
2005 the UDA announced that it was severing all ties with neo-Nazi organizations.
The
US State Department's 2002 "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report substantiates these accusations, stating: "The UDA/UFF has evolved into a criminal organization involved in drug trafficking and other moneymaking criminal activities."
They have been involved in several
feuds with the
Ulster Volunteer Force, which led to many murders. The UDA has also been riddled by its own internecine warfare, with self-styled "brigadiers" and former figures of power and influence, such as
Johnny Adair and
Jim Gray (themselves bitter rivals), falling rapidly in and out of favour with the rest of the leadership. On
February 22 2003, the UDA announced a "complete and utter cessation" of all acts of violence for one year. It said it will review its ceasefire every three months. It also apologised for the involvement of some of its members in the drugs trade.
On
June 20,
2006 the UDA expelled the Shoukri brothers, two of its senior members who were heavily involved in crime. Some see this as a sign they the UDA is slowly coming away from crime.
[BBC Report] Other senior members met with
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for talks on
July 13.
[UTV report]Its 'ceasefire' was welcomed by the
Northern Ireland Secretary of State,
Paul Murphy and the
Chief Constable of the
Police Service of Northern Ireland,
Hugh Orde. Most
nationalists were sceptical, however, as the UDA has a history of making and breaking ceasefires as it deems circumstances to warrant.
Following an August 2005
Sunday World article that poked fun at the gambling losses of one of its leaders, the UDA banned the sale of the newspaper from shops in areas it controls. Shops that defy the ban have suffered arson attacks, and at least one newsagent was threatened with death. The
PSNI have recently begun accompanying the paper's delivery vans.
[Times Online][Nuzhound] The UDA was also considered to have played an instrumental role in loyalist riots in Belfast in September 2005.
On the
November 13,
2005, the UDA announced that it would "consider its future", in the wake of the standing down of the Provisional IRA and
Loyalist Volunteer Force.
[RTE]In February 2006, the
Independent Monitoring Commission reported that the UDA continued its paramilitary activities, as well as involvement in organized crime, drug trafficking, counterfeiting, extortion, money laundering and robbery.
[Eighth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission]The
Red Hand Defenders is an organisation that formed in 1998. Its members are loyalist hard-liners that oppose the ceasefire. The organisation seems to be made up of members of the UDA/UFF and LVF - all organisations that officially denounce them. Speculation remains as to exactly what their relationships are.
*
Ulster Young Militants
*Ed Moloney,
The Secret History of the IRA*Brendan O'Brien,
The Long war, the IRA and Sinn Fein
