Wikipedia

Ulster Volunteer Force

(Redirected fromUlster Volunteer Force (1966))
For the original Ulster Volunteer Force, seeUlster Volunteers.

TheUlster Volunteer Force(UVF) is anUlster loyalistparamilitarygroup based inNorthern Ireland.Formed in 1965,[7]it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader wasGusty Spence,a formerRoyal Ulster Riflessoldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertookan armed campaignof almost thirty years duringThe Troubles.It declared aceasefirein 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on theterrorist organisation listof theUnited Kingdom.[8]

Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Dates of operationMay 1966 – present (on ceasefire since October 1994; officially ended armed campaign in May 2007)
Group(s)Young Citizen Volunteers(youth wing)
Protestant Action Force(cover name)
Protestant Action Group (cover name)
Progressive Unionist Party(political representation)
HeadquartersBelfast
Active regionsNorthern Ireland(mostly)
Republic of Ireland
Scotland(fifteen operations)
IdeologyUlster loyalism
Irish unionism
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Irish sentiment
Protestant extremism[1]
Size1,500 at peak in the 1970s[2](hard core of 400–500 gunmen and bombers)[3]
Estimated several hundred members inActive service unitsby 1990s[4]
300 (2010[5])
7,500 (total, 2020[6])
AlliesRed Hand Commando
OpponentsProvisional IRA
Official IRA
Irish National Liberation Army
Irish People's Liberation Organization
Irish republicans
Irish nationalists
Loyalist Volunteer Force

United Kingdom

Republic of Ireland

Battles and warsThe Troubles

The UVF's declared goals were to combatIrish republicanparamilitaries – particularly theProvisional Irish Republican Army(IRA) – and to maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom. It was responsible for more than 500 deaths. The vast majority (more than two-thirds)[9][10]of its victims wereIrish Catholiccivilians, who were often killed at random.[11][12][13][14]During the conflict, its deadliest attack in Northern Ireland was the 1971McGurk's Bar bombing,which killed fifteen civilians. The group also carried out attacks in the Republic of Ireland from 1969 onward. The biggest of these was the 1974Dublin and Monaghan bombings,which killed 34 civilians, making it the deadliest terrorist attack of the conflict. The no-warning car bombings had been carried out by units from the Belfast andMid-Ulster brigades.

The Mid-Ulster Brigade was also responsible for the 1975Miami Showband killings,in which three members of the popular Irish cabaret band were shot dead at a bogussecurity checkpointby gunmen wearing military uniforms. Two UVF men were accidentally blown up in this attack. The UVF's last major attack was the 1994Loughinisland massacre,in which its members shot dead six Catholic civilians in a rural pub. Until recent years,[15]it was noted for secrecy and a policy of limited, selective membership.[16][17][18][19][20]

Since the ceasefire, the UVF has been involved in rioting, drug dealing, organised crime, loan-sharking and prostitution.[21][22][23]Some members have also been found responsible for orchestrating a series of racist attacks.[24]

History

See also:Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions

Background

Since 1964 and the formation of theCampaign for Social Justice,there had been a growingcivil rights campaignin Northern Ireland, seeking to highlight discrimination against Catholics by theunionistgovernment of Northern Ireland.[25]Some unionists feared Irish nationalism and launched an opposing response in Northern Ireland.[25]In April 1966,Ulster loyalistsled byIan Paisley,a Protestant fundamentalist preacher, founded theUlster Constitution Defence Committee(UCDC). It set up a paramilitary-style wing called theUlster Protestant Volunteers(UPV).[25]The 'Paisleyites' set out to stymie the civil rights movement and oustTerence O'Neill,Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.Although O'Neill was a unionist, they saw him as being too 'soft' on the civil rights movement and too friendly with theRepublic of Ireland.There was to be much overlap in membership between the UCDC/UPV and the UVF.[26]

Beginnings

A UVF flag inGlenarm,County Antrim

On 7 May 1966, loyalistspetrol bombeda Catholic-ownedpubin the loyalistShankillarea ofBelfast.Fire engulfed the house next door, badly burning the elderly Protestant widow who lived there. She died of her injuries on 27 June.[25]The group called itself the "Ulster Volunteer Force" (UVF), after theUlster Volunteersof the early 20th century, although in the words of a member of the previous organisation "the present para-military organisation... has no connection with the U.V.F. of which I have been speaking. Though, for its own purposes, it assumed the same name it has nothing else in common."[27]It was led byGusty Spence,a formerRoyal Ulster Riflessoldier from Northern Ireland. Spence claimed that he was approached in 1965 by two men, one of whom was anUlster Unionist PartyMP, who told him that the UVF was to be re-established and that he was to have responsibility for the Shankill.[28]On 21 May, the group issued a statement:

From this day, we declare war against the Irish Republican Army and its splinter groups. Known IRA men will be executed mercilessly and without hesitation. Less extreme measures will be taken against anyone sheltering or helping them, but if they persist in giving them aid, then more extreme methods will be adopted.... we solemnly warn the authorities to make no more speeches of appeasement. We are heavily armed Protestants dedicated to this cause.[29]

On 27 May, Spence sent four UVF members to kill IRA volunteer Leo Martin, who lived in Belfast. Unable to find their target, the men drove around theFallsdistrict in search of a Catholic. They shot John Scullion, a Catholic civilian, as he walked home.[30]He died of his wounds on 11 June.[25]Spence later wrote "At the time, the attitude was that if you couldn't get an IRA man you should shoot aTaig,he's your last resort ".[30]

On 26 June, the group shot dead a Catholic civilian and wounded two others as they left a pub on Malvern Street, Belfast.[25]Two days later, theGovernment of Northern Irelanddeclared the UVF illegal.[25]The shootings led to Spence's being sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum sentence of twenty years.[31]Spence appointedSamuel McClellandas UVF Chief of Staff in his stead.[32]

Violence escalates

By 1969, the Catholic civil rights movement had escalated its protest campaign, and O'Neill had promised them some concessions. In March and April that year, UVF and UPV members bombed water and electricity installations in Northern Ireland, blaming them on the dormant IRA and elements of the civil rights movement. Some of them left much of Belfast without power and water.[33]The loyalists "intended to force a crisis which would so undermine confidence in O'Neill's ability to maintain law and order that he would be obliged to resign".[34]There were bombings on 30 March, 4 April, 20 April, 24 April and 26 April. All were widely blamed on the IRA, and British troops were sent to guard installations.[33]Unionist support for O'Neill waned, and on 28 April he resigned as Prime Minister.[33]

On 12 August 1969, the "Battle of the Bogside"began inDerry.This was a large, three-day riot between Irish nationalists and theRoyal Ulster Constabulary(RUC). In response to events in Derry, nationalists heldprotests throughout Northern Ireland, some of which became violent.In Belfast, loyalists responded by attacking nationalist districts. Eight people were shot dead and hundreds were injured. Scores of houses and businesses were burnt out, most of them owned by Catholics. In response, the British Army was deployed on the streets of Northern Ireland andIrish Armyunits set upfield hospitalsnear the border. Thousands of families, mostly Catholics, were forced to flee their homes andrefugee campswere set up in the Republic of Ireland.[33]

On 12 October, a loyalist protest in the Shankill became violent. During the riot, UVF members shot dead RUC officer Victor Arbuckle. He was the first RUC officer to be killed during the Troubles.[35]

The UVF had launched its first attack in the Republic of Ireland on 5 August 1969, when it bombed theRTÉ Television Centrein Dublin.[36][37]There were further attacks in the Republic between October and December 1969. In October, UVF and UPV member Thomas McDowell was killed by the bomb he was planting atBallyshannonpower station. The UVF stated that the attempted attack was a protest against the Irish Army units "still massed on the border inCounty Donegal".[38]In December, the UVF detonated acar bombnear theGardacentral detective bureau and telephone exchange headquarters in Dublin.[39]

Early to mid-1970s

In January 1970, the UVF began bombing Catholic-owned businesses in Protestant areas of Belfast. It issued a statement vowing to "remove republican elements from loyalist areas" and stop them "reaping financial benefit therefrom". During 1970, 42 Catholic-owned licensed premises in Protestant areas were bombed.[40]Catholic churches were also attacked. In February, it began to target critics of militant loyalism – the homes of MPsAustin Currie,Sheelagh Murnaghan,Richard FergusonandAnne Dicksonwere attacked with improvised bombs.[40]It also continued its attacks in the Republic of Ireland, bombing the Dublin-Belfast railway line, an electricity substation, a radio mast, and Irish nationalist monuments.[41]

The IRA had split into theProvisional IRAandOfficial IRAin December 1969. In 1971, these ramped up their activity against the British Army and RUC. The first British soldier to be killed by the Provisional IRA died in February 1971. That year, a string of tit-for-tat pub bombings began in Belfast.[42]This came to a climax on 4 December, when the UVFbombed McGurk's Bar,a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast. Fifteen Catholic civilians were killed and seventeen wounded. It was the UVF's deadliest attack in Northern Ireland, and the deadliest attack in Belfast during the Troubles.[43]

The following year, 1972, was the most violent of the Troubles. Along with the newly formedUlster Defence Association(UDA), the UVF started an armed campaign against the Catholic population of Northern Ireland. It began carrying out gun attacks to kill random Catholic civilians and using car bombs to attack Catholic-owned pubs. It would continue these tactics for the rest of its campaign. On 23 October 1972, the UVF carried out an armed raid against King's Park camp, a UDR/Territorial Armydepot in Lurgan. They managed to procure a large cache of weapons and ammunition includingL1A1 Self-Loading Rifles,Browning pistols,andSterling submachine guns.Twenty tons ofammonium nitratewas also stolen from the Belfast docks.[44]

The UVF launched further attacks in the Republic of Ireland during December 1972 and January 1973, when it detonatedthree car bombs in Dublinand one inBelturbet,County Cavan,killing a total of five civilians. It would attack the Republic again in May 1974, during the two-weekUlster Workers' Council strike.This was ageneral strikein protest against theSunningdale Agreement,which meant sharing political power with Irish nationalists and the Republic having more involvement in Northern Ireland. Along with the UDA, it helped to enforce the strike by blocking roads, intimidating workers, and shutting any businesses that opened.[45]On 17 May, two UVF units from the Belfast andMid-Ulster brigadesdetonatedfour car bombsin Dublin andMonaghan.Thirty-three people were killed and almost 300 injured. It was the deadliest attack of the Troubles. There are various[citation needed]allegations that elements of the British security forces colluded with the UVF in the bombings. TheIrish parliament'sJoint Committee on Justicecalled the bombings an act of "international terrorism" involving members of the British security forces.[46]Both the UVF and the British government have denied the claims.

The UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade was founded in 1972 in Lurgan by Billy Hanna, a sergeant in the UDR and a member of the Brigade Staff, who served as the brigade's commander, until he was shot dead in July 1975. From that time until the early 1990s the Mid-Ulster Brigade was led byRobin "the Jackal" Jackson,who then passed the leadership toBilly Wright.Hanna and Jackson have both been implicated by journalist Joe Tiernan and RUCSpecial Patrol Group(SPG) officerJohn Weiras having led one of the units that bombed Dublin.[47]Jackson was allegedly the hitman who shot Hanna dead outside his home in Lurgan.[48]

The brigade formed part of theGlenanne gang,a loose alliance of loyalists which thePat Finucane Centre(PFC) has linked to 87 killings in the 1970s. The gang comprised, in addition to members the UVF, rogue elements of the UDR and RUC, all of which were allegedly acting under the direction of theIntelligence Corpsand/or theRUC Special Branchaccording to the PFC.[49]

Mid- to late 1970s

UVF mural on theShankill Road,where the Brigade Staff is based

In 1974, hardliners staged a coup and took over the Brigade Staff.[50]This resulted in a sharp increase in sectarian killings and internecine feuding, both with the UDA and within the UVF itself.[50]Some of the new Brigade Staff members bore nicknames such as "Big Dog" and "Smudger".[51]Beginning in 1975, recruitment to the UVF, which until then had been solely by invitation, was now left to the discretion of local units.[52]

The UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade carried out further attacks during this same period. These included theMiami Showband killingsof 31 July 1975 – when three members ofthe popular showbandwere killed, having been stopped at a fake British Army checkpoint outsideNewryinCounty Down.Two members of the group survived the attack and later testified against those responsible. Two UVF members,Harris BoyleandWesley Somerville,were accidentally killed by their own bomb while carrying out this attack. Two of those later convicted (James McDowell and Thomas Crozier) were also serving members of theUlster Defence Regiment(UDR), a regular Army regiment consisting of Northern Irishreservists.

From late 1975 to mid-1977, a unit of the UVF dubbed theShankill Butchers(a group of UVF men based on Belfast's Shankill Road) carried out a series of sectarian murders of Catholic civilians. Six of the victims were abducted at random, then beaten and tortured before having their throats slashed. This gang was led byLenny Murphy.He was shot dead by the IRA in November 1982, four months after his release from theMaze Prison.

The group had been proscribed in July 1966, but this ban was lifted on 4 April 1974 byMerlyn Rees,Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,in an effort to bring the UVF into the democratic process.[53]A political wing was formed in June 1974, theVolunteer Political Partyled by UVF Chief of Staff Ken Gibson, which contestedWest Belfastin theOctober 1974 general election,polling 2,690 votes (6%). However, the UVF spurned the government efforts and continued killing.Colin Wallace,a member of the Intelligence Corps, asserted in an internal memo in 1975 that MI6 andRUC Special Branchformed apseudo-gangwithin the UVF, designed to engage in violence and to subvert the tentative moves of some in the UVF towards the political process. CaptainRobert Nairacof14 Intelligence Companywas alleged to have been involved in several UVF operations.[54]The UVF was banned again on 3 October 1975 and two days later twenty-six suspected UVF members were arrested in a series of raids. The men were tried, and in March 1977 were sentenced to an average of twenty-five years each.[55][56]

In October 1975, after staging a counter-coup, the Brigade Staff acquired a new leadership of moderates with Tommy West serving as the Chief of Staff.[57]These men had overthrown the "hawkish" officers, who had called for a "big push", which meant an increase in violent attacks, earlier in the same month.[58]The UVF was behind the deaths of seven civilians in a series of attacks on 2 October.[59]The hawks had been ousted by those in the UVF who were unhappy with their political and military strategy. The new Brigade Staff's aim was to carry out attacks against known republicans rather than Catholic civilians.[58]This was endorsed by Gusty Spence, who issued a statement asking all UVF volunteers to support the new regime.[60]The UVF's activities in the last years of the decade were increasingly being curtailed by the number of UVF members who were sent to prison.[58]The number of killings in Northern Ireland had decreased from around 300 per year between 1973 and 1976 to just under 100 in the years 1977–1981.[61]In 1976, Tommy West was replaced with "Mr. F" who is alleged to beJohn "Bunter" Graham,who remains the incumbent Chief of Staff to date.[62][63]West died in 1980.

On 17 February 1979, the UVF carried out its only major attack inScotland,when its membersbombed two pubsinGlasgowfrequented byIrish-ScotsCatholics. Both pubs were wrecked and a number of people were wounded. It claimed the pubs were used for republican fundraising. In June, nine UVF members were convicted of the attacks.[64]

Early to mid-1980s

In the 1980s, the UVF was greatly reduced by a series of policeinformers.The damage from security service informers started in 1983 with"supergrass"Joseph Bennett's information, which led to the arrest of fourteen senior figures. In 1984, the UVF attempted to kill the northern editor of theSunday World,Jim Campbell after he had exposed the paramilitary activities of Mid-Ulster brigadierRobin Jackson.Another loyalist paramilitary organisation calledUlster Resistancewas formed on 10 November 1986. The initial aim of Ulster Resistance was to bring an end to theAnglo-Irish Agreement.Loyalists were successful in importing arms into Northern Ireland. The weapons werePalestine Liberation Organisationarms captured by the Israelis and sold toArmscor,the South African state-owned company which, in defiance of a 1977 United Nations arms embargo, set about making South Africa self-sufficient in military hardware.[citation needed]The arms were divided between the UVF, theUDA(the largest loyalist group) and Ulster Resistance.[65]

The UVF received large numbers of Czechoslovak Sa vz. 58 automatic rifles in the 1980s

The arms are thought to have consisted of:

  • 200 CzechoslovakSa vz. 58automatic rifles,
  • 90Browningpistols,
  • 500RGD-5fragmentation grenades,
  • 30,000 rounds of ammunition and
  • 12RPG-7rocket launchers and 150 warheads.

The UVF used this new infusion of arms to escalate their campaign of sectarian assassinations. This era also saw a more widespread targeting on the UVF's part of IRA and Sinn Féin members, beginning with the killing of senior IRA memberLarry Marley[66]and a failed attempt on the life of a leading republican which left three Catholic civilians dead.[67]

Late 1980s and early 1990s

See also:Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997 § Loyalists and the IRA – killing and reprisals

The UVF also attacked republican paramilitaries and political activists. These attacks were stepped up in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly in the east Tyrone and north Armagh areas. The largest death toll in a single attack was in the 3 March1991 Cappagh killings,when the UVF killed IRA members John Quinn, Dwayne O'Donnell and Malcolm Nugent, and civilian Thomas Armstrong in the small village of Cappagh.[68]Republicans responded to the attacks by assassinating senior UVF membersJohn Bingham,William "Frenchie" MarchantandTrevor King[69]as well as Leslie Dallas, whose purported UVF membership was disputed both by his family and the UVF.[70]The UVF also killed senior IRA paramilitary members Liam Ryan, John 'Skipper' Burns andLarry Marley.[71]According toConflict Archive on the Internet(CAIN), the UVF killed 17 active and four former republican paramilitaries. CAIN also states that republicans killed 15 UVF members, some of whom are suspected to have been set up for assassination by their colleagues.[72]

According to journalist and authorEd Moloney,the UVF campaign in Mid-Ulsterin this period "indisputably shattered Republican morale", and put the leadership of the republican movement under intense pressure to "do something",[73]although this has been disputed by others.[who?]

1994 ceasefire

A UVF mural referencing the ceasefire

In 1990, the UVF joined theCombined Loyalist Military Command(CLMC) and indicated its acceptance of moves towards peace. However, the year leading up to the loyalist ceasefire, which took place shortly after the Provisional IRA ceasefire, saw some of the worst sectarian killings carried out by loyalists duringthe Troubles.On 18 June 1994, UVF members machine-gunned a pub in theLoughinisland massacreinCounty Down,on the basis that its customers were watching theRepublic of Ireland national football teamplaying in theWorld Cupon television and were therefore assumed to be Catholics. The gunmen shot dead six people and injured five.

The UVF agreed to a ceasefire in October 1994.

Post-ceasefire activities

1994–2005

More militant members of the UVF who disagreed with the ceasefire, broke away to form theLoyalist Volunteer Force(LVF), led byBilly Wright.This development came soon after the UVF's Brigade Staff in Belfast had stood down Wright and the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade, on 2 August 1996, for the killing of a Catholic taxi driver near Lurgan during Drumcree disturbances.[74]

A UVF mural inCarrickfergus

There followed years of violence between the two organisations. In January 2000 UVF Mid-Ulster brigadierRichard Jamesonwas shot dead by a LVF gunman which led to an escalation of the UVF/LVF feud. The UVF was also clashing with the UDA in the summer of 2000. The feud with the UDA ended in December following seven deaths. Veteran anti-UVF campaignerRaymond McCord,whose son, Raymond Jr., a Protestant, was beaten to death by UVF men in 1997, estimates the UVF has killed more than thirty people since its 1994 ceasefire, most of them Protestants.[citation needed]The feud between the UVF and the LVF erupted again in the summer of 2005. The UVF killed four men in Belfast and trouble ended only when the LVF announced that it was disbanding in October of that year.[75]

On 14 September 2005, followingserious loyalist riotingduring which dozens of shots were fired at riot police and the British Army, theNorthern Ireland SecretaryPeter Hainannounced that theBritish governmentno longer recognised the UVF ceasefire.[76]

2006–2010

On 12 February 2006,The Observerreported that the UVF was to disband by the end of 2006. The newspaper also reported that the group refused to decommission its weapons.[77]

On 2 September 2006,BBC Newsreported the UVF might be intending to re-enter dialogue with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, with a view to decommissioning of their weapons. This move came as the organisation held high-level discussions about its future.[78]

On 3 May 2007, following recent negotiations between theProgressive Unionist Party(PUP) and IrishTaoiseachBertie Ahernand withPolice Service of Northern Ireland(PSNI) Chief ConstableSir Hugh Orde,the UVF made a statement that they would transform to a "non-military, civilianised" organisation.[79]This was to take effect from midnight. They also stated that they would retain their weaponry but put them beyond reach of normal volunteers. Their weapons stock-piles are to be retained under the watch of the UVF leadership.[80][81][82]

In January 2008, the UVF was accused of involvement invigilanteaction against alleged criminals in Belfast.[83]

In 2008, a loyalist splinter group calling itself the "Real UVF" emerged briefly to make threats against Sinn Féin in County Fermanagh.[84]

In the twentieth IMC report, the group was said to be continuing to put its weapons "beyond reach", (in the group's own words) to downsize, and reduce the criminality of the group. The report added that individuals, some current and some former members, in the group have, without the orders from above, continued with "localised recruitment", and although some continued to try and acquire weapons, including a senior member, most forms of crime had fallen, including shootings and assaults. The group concluded a general acceptance of the need to decommission, though there was no conclusive proof of moves towards this end.[85]

In June 2009 the UVF formally decommissioned their weapons in front of independent witnesses as a formal statement of decommissioning was read byDawn PurvisandBilly Hutchinson.[86]The IICD confirmed that "substantial quantities of firearms, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices" had been decommissioned and that for the UVF and RHC, decommissioning had been completed.[87]

2010–2019

The UVF was blamed for the shotgun killing of expelled RHC member Bobby Moffett on the Shankill Road on the afternoon of 28 May 2010, in front of passers-by including children.[88]TheIndependent Monitoring Commissionstated Moffett was killed by UVF members acting with the sanction of the leadership.[88]TheProgressive Unionist Party's condemnation, andDawn Purvisand other leaders' resignations as a response to the Moffett shooting, were also noted.[88]Eleven months later, a man was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of the UVF's alleged second-in-commandHarry Stockman,described by theBelfast Telegraphas a "senior Loyalist figure".[89][90]Fifty-year-old Stockman was stabbed more than 10 times in a supermarket in Belfast; the attack was believed to have been linked to the Moffett killing.[89][90]

On 25–26 October 2010, the UVF was involved in rioting and disturbances in the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey with UVF gunmen seen on the streets at the time.[91][92]

On the night of 20 June 2011, riots involving 500 people erupted in theShort Strandarea of EastBelfast.They were blamed by the PSNI on members of the UVF, who also said UVF guns had been used to try to kill police officers.[93]The UVF leader in East Belfast, who is popularly known as the "Beast of the East" and "Ugly Doris" also known as by real name Stephen Matthews, ordered the attack on Catholic homes and a church in the Catholic enclave of the Short Strand. This was in retaliation for attacks on Loyalist homes the previous weekend and after a young girl was hit in the face with a brick by Republicans.[93][94]A dissident Republican was arrested for "the attempted murder of police officers in east Belfast" after shots were fired upon the police.[95]

In July 2011, a UVF flag flying inLimavadywas deemed legal by the PSNI after the police had received complaints about the flag from nationalist politicians.[96]

During theBelfast City Hall flag protestsof 2012–13, senior UVF members were confirmed to have actively been involved in orchestrating violence and rioting against the PSNI and the Alliance Party throughout Northern Ireland during the weeks of disorder.[97]Much of the UVF's orchestration was carried out by its senior members in East Belfast, where many attacks on the PSNI and on residents of the Short Strand enclave took place.[citation needed]There were also reports that UVF members fired shots at police lines during a protest.[98]The high levels of orchestration by the leadership of the East Belfast UVF, and the alleged ignored orders from the main leaders of the UVF to stop the violence has led to fears that the East Belfast UVF has now become a separate loyalist paramilitary grouping which doesn't abide by the UVF ceasefire or the Northern Ireland Peace Process.[99][100]

In October 2013, the policing board announced that the UVF was still heavily involved in gangsterism despite its ceasefire. Assistant chief constable Drew Harris in a statement said "The UVF are subject to an organised crime investigation as an organised crime group. The UVF very clearly have involvement in drug dealing, all forms of gangsterism, serious assaults, intimidation of the community."[21]

In November 2013, after a series of shootings and acts of intimidation by the UVF, Police Federation Chairman Terry Spence declared that the UVF ceasefire was no longer active. Spence told Radio Ulster that the UVF had been "engaged in murder, attempted murder of civilians, attempted murder of police officers. They have been engaged in orchestrating violence on our streets, and it's very clear to me that they are engaged in an array of mafia-style activities." They are holding local communities to ransom. On the basis of that, we as a federation have called for the respecification of the UVF [stating that its ceasefire is over]. "[101]

In June 2017,Gary Haggarty,former UVF commander for north Belfast and south-east Antrim, pleaded guilty to 200 charges, including five murders.[102]

On 23 March 2019, eleven alleged UVF members were arrested during a total of 14 searches conducted in Belfast,NewtownardsandComberand the suspects, aged between 22 and 48, were taken into police custody for questioning. Officers from the PSNI's Paramilitary Crime Task Force also seized drugs, cash and expensive cars and jewellery in an operation carried out against the criminal activities of the UVF crime gang.[103][104]

2020s

On 4 March 2021, the UVF, Red Hand Commando and UDA renounced their current participation in the Good Friday Agreement.[105]

In April 2021,riots eruptedacross Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland.[relevant?][106]On 11 April, the UVF reportedly ordered the removal ofCatholicfamilies from a housing estate inCarrickfergus.[107]

The UVF was suspected of organising a hoax bomb attack targeting a "peace-building" event in Belfast where Irish Foreign MinisterSimon Coveneywas speaking on 27 March 2022.[108][109]Armed men hijacked a van on the nearby Shankill Road and forced the driver to take a device to a church on the Crumlin Road. The community centre hosting the event and 25 nearby homes were evacuated and a funeral was disrupted. A controlled explosion was carried out and the bomb was declared a hoax.

On 26 March 2022, the UVF was linked to a hoax bomb alert at a bar in Warrenpoint, County Down.[citation needed]

The group also continue to carry out racist and sectarian attacks against Black people and Eastern Europeans in Northern Ireland. The police stated the group had contributed to a 70% rise in hate crime: "It has a deeply unpleasant taste of a bit of ethnic cleansing."[110][111][112]

Leadership

Brigade Staff

Masked UVF Brigade Staff members at a press conference in October 1974. They are wearing part of the UVF uniform which earned them their nickname "Blacknecks"

The UVF's leadership is based in Belfast and known as the Brigade Staff. It comprises high-ranking officers under a Chief of Staff or Brigadier-General. With a few exceptions, such as Mid-Ulster brigadierBilly Hanna(a native ofLurgan), the Brigade Staff members have been from the Shankill Road or the neighbouring Woodvale area to the west.[113]The Brigade Staff's former headquarters were situated in rooms above "The Eagle" chip shop located on the Shankill Road at its junction with Spier's Place. The chip shop has since been closed down.

In 1972, the UVF's imprisoned leaderGusty Spencewas at liberty for four months following a staged kidnapping by UVF volunteers. During this time he restructured the organisation into brigades, battalions, companies, platoons and sections.[44]These were all subordinate to the Brigade Staff. The incumbent Chief of Staff, is alleged to beJohn "Bunter" Graham,referred to by Martin Dillon as "Mr. F".[62][63][114]Graham has held the position since he assumed office in 1976.[62]

The UVF's nickname is "Blacknecks", derived from their uniform of black polo neck jumper, black trousers, black leather jacket, blackforage cap,along with the UVF badge and belt.[115][116]This uniform, based on those of the original UVF, was introduced in the early 1970s.[117]

Chiefs of Staff

  • Gusty Spence (1966). Whilst remainingde jureUVF leader after he was jailed for murder, he no longer acted as Chief of Staff.
  • Samuel Stevenson (1966‐1969). Stevenson, a close ally of Rev.Ian Paisley,confessed to being UVF chief of staff while undergoing questioning on explosives, a charge he later admitted 1970.[118][119]
  • Sam "Bo" McClelland(1969–1973)[32]Described as a "tough disciplinarian", he was personally appointed by Spence to succeed him as Chief of Staff, due to his having served in theKorean Warwith Spence's former regiment, theRoyal Ulster Rifles.He was interned in late 1973, although by that stage thede factoChief of Staff was his successor, Jim Hanna.[32][120]
  • Jim Hanna(1973 – April 1974)[120]Hanna was allegedly shot dead by the UVF as a suspected informer.[120]
  • Ken Gibson(1974)[121]Gibson was the Chief of Staff during theUlster Workers' Council Strikein May 1974.[121]
  • Unnamed Chief of Staff (1974 – October 1975). Leader of theYoung Citizen Volunteers(YCV), the youth wing of the UVF. Assumed command after a coup by hardliners in 1974. He, along with the other hawkish Brigade Staff members, was overthrown by Tommy West and a new Brigade Staff of "moderates" in a counter-coup supported by Gusty Spence. He left Northern Ireland after his removal from power.[60][122]
  • Tommy West (October 1975 – 1976)[57]A former British Army soldier, West was already the Chief of Staff at the time UVF volunteer Noel "Nogi" Shaw was killed byLenny Murphyin November 1975 as part of an internal feud.[57]
  • John "Bunter" Graham,also referred to as "Mr. F" (1976–present)[62][63][114]

Aim and strategy

A UVF publicity photo showing masked and armed UVF members on patrol in Belfast

The UVF's stated goal was to combatIrish republicanism– particularly theProvisional Irish Republican Army(IRA) – and maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom.[123]The vast majority of its victims wereIrish Catholiccivilians, who were often killed at random.[11]Whenever it claimed responsibility for its attacks, the UVF usually claimed that those targeted were IRA members or were giving help to the IRA.[124]At other times, attacks on Catholic civilians were claimed as "retaliation" for IRA actions, since the IRA drew almost all of its support from the Catholic community. Such retaliation was seen as bothcollective punishmentand an attempt to weaken the IRA's support; it was thought that terrorising the Catholic community and inflicting such a death toll on it would force the IRA to end its campaign.[125]Many retaliatory attacks on Catholics were claimed using the covername "Protestant Action Force"(PAF), which first appeared in autumn 1974.[126]They always signed their statements with the fictitious name "Captain William Johnston".[127]

Like theUlster Defence Association(UDA), the UVF'smodus operandiinvolved assassinations, mass shootings, bombings and kidnappings. It usedsubmachine guns,assault rifles,shotguns,pistols,grenades(including homemade grenades),incendiary bombs,booby trapbombs andcar bombs.Referring to its activity in the early and mid-1970s, journalistEd Moloneydescribed no-warningpubbombings as the UVF's "forte".[128]Members were trained in bomb-making, and the organisation developed home-made explosives.[129]In the late summer and autumn of 1973, the UVF detonated more bombs than the UDA and IRA combined,[130]and by the time of the group's temporary ceasefire in late November it had been responsible for over 200 explosions that year.[131]However, from 1977 bombs largely disappeared from the UVF's arsenal owing to a lack of explosives and bomb-makers, plus a conscious decision to abandon their use in favour of more contained methods.[132][133]The UVF did not return to regular bombings until the early 1990s when it obtained a quantity of the mining explosivePowergel.[134][135]

Strength

The strength of the UVF is uncertain. The firstIndependent Monitoring Commissionreport in April 2004 described the UVF/RHC as "relatively small" with "a few hundred" active members "based mainly in the Belfast and immediately adjacent areas".[136]Historically, the number of active UVF members in July 1971 was stated by one source to be no more than 20.[137]Later, in September 1972, Gusty Spence said in an interview that the organisation had a strength of 1,500.[138]A British Army report released in 2006 estimated a peak membership of 1,000.[139]Information regarding the role of women in the UVF is limited. One study focusing in part on female members of the UVF andRed Hand Commandonoted that it "seem[ed] to have been reasonably unusual" for women to be officially asked to join the UVF.[140]Another estimates that over a 30-year period women accounted for, at most, just 2% of UVF membership.[141]

Finance

Further information:Paramilitary finances in the Troubles

Prior to and after the onset of the Troubles the UVF carried out armed robberies.[142][143]This activity has been described as its preferred source of funds in the early 1970s,[144]and it continued into the 2000s, with the UVF inCounty Londonderrybeing active.[136]Members were disciplined after they carried out an unsanctioned theft of £8 million of paintings from an estate inCo Wicklowin April 1974.[145]Like the IRA, the UVF also operatedblack taxi services,[146][147][148]a scheme believed to have generated £100,000 annually for the organisation.[142]The UVF has also been involved in the extortion of legitimate businesses, although to a lesser extent than the UDA,[149]and was described in the fifth IMC report as being involved in organised crime.[150]In 2002 theNorthern Ireland Affairs Committeeestimated the UVF's annual running costs at £1–2 million per year, against an annual fundraising capability of £1.5 million.[151][152]

A Canadian branch of the UDA also existed and sent $30,000 to the UDA's headquarters in Belfast by 1975. The Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee noted in its report that "in 1992 it was estimated that Scottish support for the UDA and UVF might amount to £100,000 a year."[151]

Drug dealing

The UVF have been implicated in drug dealing in areas from where they draw their support. Recently it has emerged from the Police Ombudsman that senior North Belfast UVF member andRoyal Ulster Constabulary(RUC) Special Branch informantMark Haddockhas been involved in drug dealing. According to theBelfast Telegraph,"70 separate police intelligence reports implicating the north Belfast UVF man in dealing cannabis, Ecstasy, amphetamines and cocaine."[153]

According to Alan McQuillan, the assistant director of the Assets Recovery Agency in 2005, "In the loyalist community, drug dealing is run by the paramilitaries and it is generally run for personal gain by a large number of people." When the Assets Recovery Agency won a High Court order to seize luxury homes belonging to ex-policeman Colin Robert Armstrong and his partner Geraldine Mallon in 2005, Alan McQuillan said "We have further alleged Armstrong has had links with the UVF and then the LVF following the split between those organisations." It was alleged that Colin Armstrong had links to both drugs and loyalist terrorists.[154]

Billy Wright, the commander of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade, is believed to have started dealing drugs in 1991[155]as a lucrative sideline to paramilitary murder. Wright is believed to have dealt mainly in Ecstasy tablets in the early 90s.[156]It was around this time that Sunday World journalists Martin O'Hagan and Jim Campbell coined the term "rat pack" for the UVF's murderous mid-Ulster unit and, unable to identify Wright by name for legal reasons, they christened him "King Rat." An article published by the newspaper fingered Wright as a drug lord and sectarian murderer. Wright was apparently enraged by the nickname and made numerous threats to O'Hagan and Campbell. The Sunday World's offices were also firebombed. Mark Davenport from the BBC has stated that he spoke to a drug dealer who told him that he paid Billy Wright protection money.[157]Loyalists in Portadown such as Bobby Jameson have stated that the LVF (the Mid-Ulster Brigade that broke away from the main UVF - and led by Billy Wright) was not a 'loyalist organisation but a drugs organisation causing misery in Portadown.'[158]

The UVF's satellite organisation, the Red Hand Commando, was described by the IMC in 2004 as "heavily involved" in drug dealing.[136]

Arms importation

In contrast to the IRA, overseas support for loyalist paramilitaries including the UVF has been limited.[159]Its main benefactors have been in central Scotland,[160]Liverpool,[161]Preston[161]and theTorontoarea of Canada.[162]

Great Britain

Scotland was a source of funding and aid, supplying explosives and guns.[163][164]FormerMI5agent Willie Carlin said: “There were safe houses in Glasgow and Stirling. The ferry [between Scotland and Northern Ireland] was pivotal in getting arms into the north – and anything like checkpoints, or armed police and Army in Scotland would have b******d that all up.”[165]An Irish government memo written by David Donoghue stated: "The commonest contribution of Scots UDA and UVF is to sendgelignite.Explosives for the north were mostly shipped in small boats which set out at night from the Scottish coast and made contact at sea with vessels from Ulster ports. "Donoghue noted the links between Orange Lodges in Scotland and loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland and that membership of theOrange Order in Scotlandat the time was 80,000, and was concentrated in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Inverness.[166]It is estimated that the UVF nevertheless received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations to its Loyalist Prisoners Welfare Association.[167]

North America

Protestants in Canada also supported the loyalist paramilitaries in the conflict. Sociologist Steven Bruce described the support networks in Canada as "the main source of support for loyalism outside the United Kingdom...Ontariois toUlster ProtestantswhatBostonis toIrish Catholics."After the Troubles began, anOrange-Canadianloyalist organization known as the Canadian Ulster Loyalist Association (CULA) sprang to life to provide the 'besieged' Protestants with the resources to arm themselves.[168]In 1972, fiveTorontobusinessmen shipped weapons in grain container ships out ofHalifax,bound for ports in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland which were destined for loyalist militants.[168][169] Etobicokebased gunsmith William Charles Taylor and formerCanadian Army Reserveofficer Howard Wright sourced many second hand firearms atgun showsin the US and then smuggled them to the UVF wrapped in lead foil (to defeat X Ray scanners) in packages marked as "car components" from Old Mill Pontiac Buick in Toronto. Additionally, any semi-automatic rifles or submachine guns they sourced were first illegally converted to full-auto by Taylor before shipment. The pair were responsible for the UVF obtaining hundreds ofmilitary gradeweapons such asMAC-10s,Uzis,andColt Commandocarbines in the early 1980's.[170]Between 1979 and 1986, Canadian supporters supplied the UVF/UDA with 100 machine guns and thousands of rifles, grenade launchers, magnum revolvers, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition.[168][169]These shipments were considered enough for the UVF/UDA to wage its campaign, most of which were used to kill its victims.[168]On 10 February 1976, following the sudden uptick of violence against Catholic civilians by loyalist militants, IrishcardinalWilliam Conwayand nine other Catholic bishops met with British Prime MinisterHarold Wilsonand his cabinet, asking them as to where the loyalist militants had acquired guns, to whichSecretary of State for Northern IrelandMerlyn Reesreplied "Canada".[171]

Middle East

In June 1987, the UVF stole over £325,000 during an armed robbery at a branch of theNorthern BankinPortadown.The cash was thenlaunderedthrough Swiss banks accounts and other financial institutions in mainland Europe, where "respectable" members of the Unionist business community made in person lodgements.[172]The money was then used to buy an arms shipment fromChristian militia groups in Lebanon,that was to be split evenly between the UVF, theUDA,andUlster Resistance.The weapons, which amounted to over 200Vz. 58assault rifles, 94Browning Hi-Powerpistols, 4RPG-7rocket launchers and dozens of warheads, over 400RGD-5grenades and 30,000 rounds of ammunition arrived atBelfastdocks in December 1987, and was thereafter distributed to the three loyalist paramilitary groups.[173]Although the arms were sourced inLebanon,it has been alleged that the ultimate supplier wasArmscorin South Africa, who funneled the shipment through a series of middlemen (such as American arms dealer Douglas Bernhardt) to disguise its true source.[174]After the cash had been couriered over to Bernhardt's office inGeneva,he was alleged to have then arranged a bank draft to be forwarded to an arms dealer in Beirut, who then sourced the weapons and loaded then into a shipping container labelled as ceramic floor tiles.[175]A supposed motive forApartheid South Africato get involved in supplying arms to loyalist paramilitary groups was their attempts to obtain classifiedStarstreaksurface-to-air missile technology from theShort Brothersfactory in Belfast, evidence of which was uncovered after representatives from Ulster Resistance were arrested in Paris in April 1989, along with Bernhardt and a diplomat from South Africa, while in the possession of stolen missile parts.[176]

Eastern Europe

On 24 November 1993, following a tip off fromMI6,UKcustoms officersraided the MV Inowroclawcargo shipwhile it was docked atTeesportand discovered a UVF weapons and explosives shipment hidden amongst a load ofceramic tiles.The shipment, which was described the as the biggest illegal arms seizure on British soil, contained 300AKMrifles with thousands of rounds of ammunition, dozens of 9mm pistols, hundreds ofhand grenades,over twometric tonsofplastic explosivesand thousands ofdetonators.The ship had originated in theBaltic Seaport ofGdynia,and Polish authorities had warned British intelligence agencies in advance of its arrival in England.[177][178]

List of weapons used by the UVF

Firearms

Handguns

Model Image Caliber Type Origin Details
Browning Hi-Power 9×19mm Parabellum Pistol Belgium Imported from Lebanon in 1987[179]
Star Model B 9×19mm Parabellum Pistol Spain
Smith & Wesson Model 27 .357 Magnum Revolver United States Imported from Canada in the early 1980's[180]

Submachine guns

Model Image Caliber Type Origin Details
Sten 9×19mm Parabellum Submachine Gun United Kingdom [181]
Sterling 9×19mm Parabellum Submachine Gun United Kingdom [182]
Uzi 9×19mm Parabellum Submachine Gun Israel Imported from Canada in the early 1980's[183]
MAC-10 .45 ACP Submachine Gun United States Imported from Canada in the early 1980's[184]

Assault rifles

Model Image Caliber Type Origin Details
Colt Commando 5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle United States Imported from Canada in the early 1980's[185]
ArmaLite AR-18 5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle United States Stolen fromProvisional Irish Republican Armyarms dumps
Ruger Mini-14 5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle United States Imported from Canada in the early 1980's[186]
Vz. 58 7.62×39mm Assault rifle Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
 Imported from Lebanon in 1987[187]
SA80 5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle United Kingdom Stolen from a UDR base in 1989[188]
L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle 7.62×51mm NATO Battle rifle United Kingdom Stolen from a UDR base in 1972

Machine guns

Model Image Caliber Type Origin Details
Bren gun .303 British Light machine gun United Kingdom
M60 7.62×51mm NATO General-purpose machine gun United States Imported from Canada in the early 1980's[189]

Anti-tank weapons

Model Image Caliber Type Origin Details
RPG-7 40mm Rocket-propelled grenade Soviet Union Imported from Lebanon in 1987[190]

Explosives

Model Image Type Origin Details
IED Improvised explosive device United Kingdom As well asANFOcar bombs,Gelignitewas used for pipe bombs and satchel charges[191]
RGD-5 Hand Grenade Soviet Union Imported from Lebanon in 1987[192]

Affiliated groups

  • TheRed Hand Commando(RHC) is an organisation that was established in 1972 and is closely linked with the UVF. It also allowed other groups to claim attacks under its name.[193]
  • TheYoung Citizen Volunteers(YCV) is the youth section of the UVF. It was initially a youth group akin to theScouts,but became the youth wing of the UVF during the Home Rule crisis.
  • TheProgressive Unionist Party(PUP) is the political wing of the UVF.[194]In June 2010, its sole member in theNorthern Ireland Assembly,party leaderDawn Purvis,resigned from the PUP over the UVF being accused of involvement in the Moffett murder.
  • TheProtestant Action Force(PAF) was a cover name used by the UVF to avoid directly claiming responsibility for killings and other acts of violence. The names were first used during the early 1970s.[195]

Deaths as a result of activity

The UVF has killed more people than any other loyalist paramilitary group. Malcolm Sutton'sIndex of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland,part of theConflict Archive on the Internet(CAIN), states that the UVF and RHC was responsible for at least 485 killings during the Troubles, and lists a further 256 loyalist killings that have not yet been attributed to a particular group.[9]According to the bookLost Lives(2006 edition), it was responsible for 569 killings.[196]

Of those killed by the UVF and RHC:[197]

  • 414 (~85%) were civilians, 11 of whom were civilian political activists
  • 21 (~4%) were members or former members of republican paramilitary groups
  • 44 (~9%) were members or former members of loyalist paramilitary groups
  • 6 (~1%) were members of the British security forces

There were also 66 UVF/RHC members and four former members killed in the conflict.[198]

See also

Footnotes

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Further reading

  • Birgen, Julia. "Overstating and Misjudging the Prospects of Civil War: The Ulster Volunteer Force and the Irish Volunteers in the Home Rule Crisis, 1912–1914." (Thesis 2017).onlineArchived23 June 2018 at theWayback Machine
  • Boulton, David (1973).UVF 1966–1973: An Anatomy of Loyalist Rebellion.Torc Books.ISBN978-0-7171-0666-0.
  • Bowman, Timothy.Carson's Army: The Ulster Volunteer Force, 1910–22(2012), a standard scholarly history
  • Bruce, Steve (1992).The Red Hand: The Protestant Paramilitaries in Ulster.Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-215961-5.
  • Cusack, Jim; McDonald, Henry (2000).UVF.Poolbeg.ISBN1-85371-687-1.
  • Dillon, Martin (1991).The Dirty War.Arrow Books.ISBN0-09-984520-2.
  • Edwards, Aaron (2017).UVF: Behind the Mask.Merrion Press.ISBN978-1-78537-087-8.
  • Geraghty, Tony (2000).The Irish War.Harper Collins.ISBN0-00-638674-1.
  • Grob-Fitzgibbon, Benjamin. (2006) "Neglected Intelligence: How the British Government Failed to Quell the Ulster Volunteer Force, 1912–1914."Journal of Intelligence History6.1 (2006): 1-23.
  • O'Brien, Brendan (1995).The Long War – the IRA and Sinn Féin.The O'Brien Press.ISBN0-86278-606-1.
  • Orr, David R. (2016)Ulster will Fight. Volume 1: Home Rule and the Ulster Volunteer Force 1886-1922(2016)excerptArchived24 March 2021 at theWayback Machine;a standard scholarly history
  • Taylor, Peter (1999).Loyalists: War and Peace in Northern Ireland.TV Books Ltd.ISBN1-57500-047-4.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ulster_Volunteer_Force&oldid=1260130924"