Politicians appeal for end to feud

Loyalist funerals have not lowered feud tensions

A leading loyalist politician has said he will attempt to stop the violence linked to the loyalist feud on Belfast's Shankill Road.

David Ervine's Progressive Unionist Party is linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force, which is involved in a feud with the rival Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters on the Shankill Road in west Belfast.

Three men, including Jackie Coulter who was linked to the UDA, and Sam Rocket who was linked to the UVF, were shot dead this week as the dispute between the two groups boiled over.

David Ervine: "Security forces must take aggressive stand"

Speaking on the BBC Radio Ulster Inside Politics programme on Saturday, east Belfast assemblymember David Ervine, who is returning to Northern Ireland from Australia, said the dispute within loyalism was so "destabilised, it could potentially destroy our whole peace process".

Mr Ervine said his job would be to try to put a stop to the violence when he returned.

"I may succeed, I may not. I may be told to clear off, or I may be listened to," he said.

Earlier this week, PUP assemblyman Billy Hutchinson, said he would not attempt to try set up mediation between the feuding paramilitaries because neither of the groups were ready to listen.

Mr Ervine said society and politicians must "pull together" and the security forces must take an "aggressive stand" to put a stop to the violence.

Concern over UFF-LVF link

The PUP assemblyman also said he was concerned because he believed the UDA/UFF was uniting with the splinter organisation the Loyalist Volunteer Force against the UVF.

He questioned the motives of the UDA/UFF in becoming linked with the LVF, as UDA/UFF leaders and their political allies in the Ulster Democratic Party have maintained that they support the Good Friday Agreement peace accord, while the LVF remains opposed to it.

On Friday, UDP chairman John White, said he was still committed to the agreement and the Northern Ireland peace process, in response to a call for clarity on his position from Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness.

However, Mr Ervine said he believed the roots of the feud were based in local conflicts between "cardboard cut-out characters".

"The agendas are more about individuals than they ever were about the population or territory of NI," he said.

'NI faces more funerals'

Speaking on the same programme, Ulster Unionist trade minister Sir Reg Empey said loyalists involved in the feud had shown "a desperate lack of discipline".

Empey: "We could go back to trenches for another 30 years"

Sir Reg, who was on a trade mission to the United States this week, said that continuing violence would do inconceivable damage to Northern Ireland's attempt to rebuild its society and regenerate its economy.

He said people were faced with two choices.

"We either go forward and try to get work into difficult areas like north Belfast.

"Or we go back into the trenches and follow the funeral corteges for another 30 years," he said.