Loyalists say the UVF is impervious to appeals to end the feud and will stop only when the LVF is wiped out or disbands, writes Gerry Moriarty
Sinn Féin Assembly member Alex Maskey posed what seemed a reasonable question after the latest victim of the Ulster Volunteer Force-Loyalist Volunteer Force feud was gunned down in broad daylight in central Belfast yesterday.
"What exactly are the DUP and the UUP doing to end the unionist paramilitary campaign?" asked Mr Maskey, as the body of Mick Green from Ballysillan in north Belfast lay under a sheet on Sandy Row close to Gilpin's furniture store where he worked for about 12 years.
The 42-year-old married father of three children was shot several times after he arrived by motorbike to his work. He was a soft target and while he may have had some tenuous LVF "associations" was not directly involved in the organisation, according to loyalist sources.
Sinn Féin has taken to using the phrase "unionist paramilitaries" as opposed to loyalist paramilitaries, apparently to try to create a guilt by association connection between these organisations and the DUP and UUP. Both unionist parties reject allegations of any such link.
The DUP, however, is now the main unionist party and many working-class loyalists vote for the party. That's obvious from the success of the DUP and the failure of the Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the UVF, to make any political progress.
Four people have died in Belfast in fewer than seven weeks in this latest manifestation of the UVF-LVF feud, three of whom at most had LVF "associations". The UVF was responsible for all the killings, although the LVF was also involved in attacks. Recently, the UVF brazenly took over the loyalist Garnerville area of east Belfast and forced several LVF-connected families out of the area.
The PSNI was accused of allowing the UVF act unhindered in Garnerville and of failing to thwart UVF attacks since the first killing in this latest round of murders, that of Jameson Lockhart in east Belfast on July 1st. The police in turn say their operations have prevented further deaths but that they can't have patrols everywhere.
Most unionist and loyalist sources agree that in this internecine dispute there "will only be one winner" and that's the UVF because it is the stronger organisation. Mainstream unionist politicians insist that they have no influence on the UVF.
They back up this by noting that recently the PUP leader David Ervine has said that even with his connections he can't stop the attacks.
One loyalist source close to the UVF agreed that the organisation distrusted the DUP. "But now that the DUP is the dominant unionist party maybe it should do more to at least try to influence the UVF," he said.
Another senior loyalist source countered, "If David Ervine can't do anything how can the DUP or UUP?" He said that senior UVF leaders told him there was absolutely no point in Protestant politicians or clerics or community activists trying to intervene because the UVF has no intention of listening. "The UVF has a simple agenda, to wipe out the LVF in Belfast. They say they plan to do the same in Lurgan and Portadown, where the LVF has some strength. Whether they can do that I don't know, but they certainly believe they can destroy the LVF in Belfast," the source added.
There is a deadly perverse logic to the UVF's thinking. "They say they can't fully get involved in the peace process if they are looking over their shoulder all the time at the LVF. They see the LVF as unfinished business," said the source.
It's brutal mean streets stuff which means nothing to the wife, children and loved ones of Mick Green. But the way this loyalist describes it, the only way to end the dispute is for the LVF to disband.