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Loyalist arms statements expected Loyalist weapons put 'beyond use'
(about 6 hours later)
Loyalist paramilitaries are expected to give details of decommissioning in separate statements on Saturday. Two Northern Ireland loyalist paramilitaries groups have said they have completed the process of decommissioning.
The UVF and Red Hand Commando are expected to say they have decommissioned all of their guns, ammunition and explosives. The UVF and Red Hand Commando said their weapons and explosives were "totally and irreversibly beyond use".
It is believed the UDA will confirm it has started to decommission its arsenal. Another loyalist group, the Ulster Defence Association, confirmed it had started to decommission its arsenal.
Details of the UVF/RHC move will be given at a press conference in east Belfast on Saturday. Between them, the UDA and UVF killed almost 1,000 people during the Troubles, most of them Catholic.
It is believed that Progressive Unionist Party leader Dawn Purvis and former assembly member Billy Hutchinson will be present at the event. In a statement, the leadership of the UVF/RHC said the disarmament process was overseen by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) and in the presence of international witnesses.
Former BBC security correspondent Brian Rowan said a joint conference had originally been planned, but because UDA decommissioning has been started rather than completed, it would give a separate statement. It said the process had begun last Autumn but had been "suspended" following the dissident republican killings of a policeman and two soldiers in March.
Unlikely figure behind move
"Assurances were sought from the government that those responsible would be vigorously pursued," it said.
"Only when forthright assurances were given and it became clear that they would be honoured did our process resume."
Dawn Purvis of the PUP said it was a "momentous day"
The leader of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party, Dawn Purvis, said Saturday was a "momentous day."
She said it showed that "peaceful, stable, inclusive democracy" was the way forward.
She added: "Eventually loyalists and republicans must sit down for the good of our country, if we claim to be patriots."
PUP representative Billy Hutchinson, who was a UVF prisoner, said: "No one other than the UVF and Red Hand Commando brought us to this position".
In a separate statement, the UDA confirmed it had started a process that would lead to the destruction of all its arms.
It said: "The dark days are now behind us and it is time to move on.
"There is no place for guns and violence in the new society we are building. It is time to work for a better future."
Earlier this month, the BBC learned that the three loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland had decommissioned weapons.
It followed months of increasing pressure from the government, and secret talks amongst loyalist groups.
The government was told of the UVF move by General John de Chastelain, head of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD).
General de Chastelain is believed to have briefed the Northern Ireland Office.
Four years ago the IRA put its weapons beyond use in decommissioning witnessed by two churchmen.Four years ago the IRA put its weapons beyond use in decommissioning witnessed by two churchmen.
The latest decommissioning comes ahead of NI Secretary of State Shaun Woodward's August deadline for significant progress on loyalist arms. The latest decommissioning comes ahead of Secretary of State Shaun Woodward's August deadline for significant progress on loyalist arms.
Mr Woodward said if loyalist decommissioning was confirmed, it would show that politics in Northern Ireland was working.