Government action 'saved peace process'

LONDON (Reuters) -- Quick government intervention has kept fighting among pro-British groups in Belfast from stalling Northern Ireland's peace process, Britain's Northern Ireland secretary said on Saturday.

"We end the week much better than we began it. It could have been very, very much worse. Indeed the whole peace process could have been derailed this week if the violence had spread from the Protestant areas ... to the Catholic areas," Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, told BBC radio.

Britain rushed troops and police to the streets of Belfast as three men were killed in a feud pitting two pro-British loyalist guerrilla groups, the Protestant Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) against a third, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

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Well-placed sources say Belfast's lucrative drug trade is the main prize at the heart of the fighting, and that it has little to do with the pro-British ideology of the groups -- which are supposed to be observing a ceasefire.

"Less and less does it have anything to do with political considerations," said Ken Maginnis, security spokesman for the province's main Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists.

The government also re-imprisoned former UFF leader Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair on Tuesday saying he was a threat to peace. Adair had left prison in an early release scheme for ex-guerrillas under the landmark 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.

The accord seeks to end 30 years of fighting between largely Protestant pro-British groups and predominantly Roman Catholic organisations opposing Britain's rule in Northern Ireland in which 3,600 people have been killed.

Removing Adair from the equation meant that disputes between the various loyalist groups could be resolved peacefully and had prevented an upsurge in the violence, Mandelson told the BBC.

Mandelson also noted a lack of reaction to Adair's re-imprisonment. "We did not see, as some people predicted, crowds of people coming onto the streets to express their support for him," he said.

"The integrity of the prisoner release programme has been asserted through my action in recalling Johnny Adair to prison," he added, saying that the number of released prisoners who did reoffend was small compared to the number released.

Thousands of Protestants thronged west Belfast on Friday to mourn Jackie Coulter, a UDA member with ties to Adair. Bobby Mahood, shot with Coulter on Monday, was buried on Thursday.

The third victim, Samuel Rockett, 21, who was linked with the UVF and killed in what security sources say was a revenge attack for Coulter's killing, is expected to be buried on Saturday.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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August 25, 2000
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August 24, 2000
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August 23, 2000
In-Depth Specials -- Northern Ireland's Path to Peace

Northern Ireland Office
Good Friday Agreement

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