Issue 161, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (September, 2000)

              uimh 161 september mean fomhair 2000 60p usa si 7 am a political prisoner — tommy crossan republican prisoner maghaberryjail see inside pages 5 8,9 ritish explod the current feuding between the loyalist death squads in the six counties has its origins in the british government and its intelligence services manipulation of the uda/uff and the uvf over the past decades further from the estimated 55 two years ago to the levd of 45 or less 41 m.m.vd it is no surprise that trimble associates arc desperately trying to make ironic that the likely consequence of this blood letting is that support for the stormont agreement among unionists will reduce even feis na poblachta ocaid chruinnithe na ngaeilgeoiri 2pm 16u mean fomhair 2000 an culturlann baile na manach co bhac deasun breatnach an ghaeftacht faoi lathairagus sa todhchai dr conchur o bradaigh fadhb na drambatota an feactitais in aghaidh an loisceoir bntscair i gcuige connacht micheal mac aonghusa an conradh ceitteach na tiortha ceilteacha agus tire sa 21uaois faitte roimh ch&ch bi arm gan teip peace between the feuding death squads as the anti-agreement unionists will hold the uup leader responsible for the killings and ethnic cleansing in loyalist areas between rival i^ahsts on august 13 last the in ifu pugpuht see pages 6 7 inside against nationalists came to a head with the wholesale attacks on nationalist homes in the limestone road area bv more than 50 loyalists who crossed the pcacclinc six days later the uda uff fired off volleys of automatic gunfire from the platform at a loyalist festival on the shankill road among the applauding onlookers were johnny adair michael stone john white and belfast deputy-mayor frank mccoubrey no one was arrested for this armed stunt and the newspapers and media largely ignored it just as they ignored the previous uda/uff volley shots at 12th night ilrlnitkih m belfast a month before many nationalists commented that if arms were displayed and fired like this on the nearby falls road the british army would lay siege to the area for a week the ensuing rival burnings expulsions and assassinations in belfast and beyond has been a severe blow to britain s grand design to manipulate the loyalist death squads as irregular supporters of the british mihtarv briti ordered hack om the streets in belfast on august 22 the origins he in the thatcher government s stepping up of the dirty hi in the 1980s when the sas were sent into the six counties and south african arms were people who were then assassinated this policy went off track with brian yjcteon's discovery and arrest by the english policeman john stevens supposedly on the information ofndson's enemies hi the ruc special branch at this point johnny adair filled the vacuum and the uda uff in belfast reverted to the random shootings of nationalists under his leadership he was uncontrollable and remains so today adair and his followers made a pretence of supporting year-oid girl was seriously injured in coleraine when the uvf opened fire on her home peter mandelson gave us an inkling of the british desire to once more manipulate the loyalist death squads when he said at the end of august that the gap in their design ' was that the uda uff political organisation the udp had not won scats in the stormont assembly if that had happened they would have a tighter grip on the situation he said and where are all the stormont parties demanding udaajffn any crmvn fc sfire volleys of shots on the shankiu road on august 19 without interfe delivered to lovalist death squads in 19s8 with the sanction of her administration some of these guns were used by ac uda/uff firing party on the shankill road on august 19 the pokey * nc1mk was to put lethal pressure on republicans republican sympathisers and the families of active republicans the uda double agent brian nelson was the conduit through which british intelligence passed on information on the stormont agreement to get out of jail their actions on the ground since their release show that they really want to renew the ethnic cleansing of nationalists from interface areas and steer the uda/uff as a whole back to their rani preoccupation the random slaying of innocent mmhmfats pro and anti-agreement followers are therefore battling it out on the shankill road with drug peddling rackets and territory as secondary factors as we went to press an 1 1 the decommissioning ~* of loyalist arms or the expulsion of their representatives from stormont meanwhile in the 26 counties the latest report from the national economic and social forum has reveam an ever-widening gap between rich and poor with more than 20 of the population living below the poverty tine and the risk of poverty increasing for women only portugal has a higher proportion of its population living m poverty in tbe eu