The North's largest loyalist paramilitary group, the UDA, has withdrawn its support for the Belfast Agreement but said its cease-fire remains intact. The organisation said nationalists were gaining far too many concessions in the process.
In its statement the UDA, using its UFF cover-name, said its membership was strongly opposed to an agreement which "the vast majority of the loyalist community have grown to despise".
It added: "We find it intolerable that Sinn Fein have gained concession after concession yet there is still a growing erosion of our culture and our heritage. This has to stop. We cannot allow this to go any further. There can be no more concessions to nationalism while the fabric of our loyalist community is torn asunder." It is not known if the UDA will continue its contact with the international decommissioning body. The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, voiced his dismay at the UDA's withdrawal of support for the agreement.
"Given the violence recently carried out by some loyalist paramilitaries, this statement is a cause for concern," he said. He urged the UDA to rethink its decision and asked community leaders to use their influence with the organisation.
The Sinn Fein chief whip, Mr Alex Maskey, claimed the UDA had already ended its cease-fire and was responsible for the current sectarian attacks against Catholic homes across the North. "It has been the Sinn Fein view for some time that the UDA/UFF cessation has ended," he said.
The Alliance leader, Mr Sean Neeson, called for calm in the community. He said the agreement presented an opportunity to create political stability. Mr John White of the Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political wing, said he was disappointed with the statement, but dissatisfaction with the agreement had been growing for some time. He said there was "a lot to do" before loyalist paramilitary faith could be restored in the deal.
In another sign of growing loyalist disenchantment with the current situation, the UVF's political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party, said it was withdrawing from the Weston Park talks in Staffordshire.
The PUP's policy change followed a party executive meeting in Belfast. Those present supported a proposal to withdraw from the negotiations, which was made by the PUP's chief spokesman, Mr David Ervine. On Monday Mr Ervine left the Weston Park talks.
Speaking yesterday, he said it had been impossible to negotiate with Sinn Fein because the party had refused to explain the republican position. The Provisional IRA had said it would address the arms issue if the causes of conflict in the North were removed. Mr Ervine said Sinn Fein leaders refused to define these causes when asked.
The PUP Assembly member said his community had become increasingly disillusioned with the political process. "We have seen a consistent spiral where the republican shopping list gets even longer. If the IRA cannot offer the unionist community signs of confidence, then why not?" he said.
Mr Ervine stressed that his party was withdrawing only from the current phase of the political process and was not pulling out of the entire peace process. He hoped the PUP could soon return to the talks.
A Sinn Fein Assembly member, Mr Conor Murphy, dismissed the PUP's claim that it had pulled out of the talks because of his party's refusal to define the causes of conflict. "Sinn Fein made our position clear on this issue time and time again in the negotiations leading up to the signing of the Good Friday agreement negotiations which, of course, included Mr Ervine," he said.
Meanwhile, the PUP said it was unaware of speculation that the UVF was planning to end contact with the international decommissioning body. An Assembly member, Mr Billy Hutchinson, the UVF's go-between with the group, said he had not received any request from the UVF leadership to abandon contact with the body.