Adair backs arms move
FORMER UFF leader Johnny Adair has welcomed news that loyalists are moving to decommission.
Adair said his contacts had told him the UVF act of decommissioning had happened, earlier this week.
"If the UVF have said they have decommissioned then I would believe them but I would not believe that the UDA have. At least I have not heard that."
Adair said he believed the UVF were now "serious in their quest for peace and dissolving the organisation".
He added: "I say that grudgingly because they are my enemies."
Adair who led the UDA's so-called C company, on Belfast's lower
Shankill Road, was hounded out of Northern Ireland in August 2000 after a murderous feud broke out between his company and the UVF.
He said: "I don't believe the UDA have many weapons to give away anyway.
"This should have all happened a long time ago anyway when I was appointed as an intermediary with the inner council and General De Chastelain commission.
"We had devised a plan and had met the General on many occasions
"If it had been let go ahead by jealous members of the inner council then we would have had decommissioned before the IRA."
Adair said he did not think the UDA would have been able to decommission the weapons that had belonged to C company.
"They could hand in a lot of rubbish coz they have loads of it," he said.
"But they do not know how to get to the person who holds the keys to C Company's weaponry.
"C Company had the best cache around as far as I know they still have it, somewhere.
"In my opinion I don't believe their weapons will ever be found or seized.
Adair said he believed there was no longer a need to loyalist paramiitaries as there is a minor threat from dissident republicans.
"I am glad the UVF have done it. I had a fella on the phone to be earlier saying to me 'You are not going to believe what they have handed over'
"Good for them and fair play to them.
"This is good for the peace process. When I was trying for decommission UDA senior men were pushing that it was not the right time because of threats from dissident republicans, but they have made their attacks and what have they done - nothing.
"So I hope the UDA does follow suit as the threat has been tried and tested and they have done nothing. They are not going to respond now. All they are doing is turning the guns on themselves."
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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