5 February 1998 Edition

Resize: A A A Print

North Belfast Republicans threatened

SINN Féin councillor Bobby Lavery has called on the RUC to explain publicly what the links between the UFF and the LVF are.

The call comes in a week that he and several other republicans from the Ardoyne area of the city have received death threats from the LVF and other unstated loyalist sources.

In the most recent threat a leaflet from the LVF was sent to a Sinn Féin centre. In a sectarian and menacing parody against one man, the leaflet says ``why don't you get yourself a job? Your local LVF unit has already got your CV and your application is being vetted at this moment''.

Accompanying the leaflet is a photograph of a mural proclaiming ``UFF 2nd Batt. `C' Coy-Simply the Best''. The coupling of LVF with UFF material is being viewed as significant by local republicans following the recent admission by the UDA/UFF that they had been involved in sectarian killings under the flagship of the LVF.

In their statement the UDA/UFF had claimed their association with the LVF had ended.

Prior to receipt of the LVF/UDA death threat, the Republican targeted by the leaflet had been warned by the RUC that his personal details were in the hands of a loyalist death squad. ``The RUC took obvious delight in the loyalist death threat against me,'' he said.

In recent weeks the Ardoyne man has not only been targeted by loyalists but also for harassment by the RUC. ``My name and details were recently leaked to the press,'' he said, ``I suspect the RUC may have had some hand in this.''

Meanwhile another three republicans from Ardoyne have been informed by the RUC that their personal details are in the hands of loyalists exposing the increase in the attempts to cow the nationalist community.

The three, all former republican POWs, have in the past been targeted and one of those warned reflected., ``I was first warned in the early 1970s so loyalist messages relayed through the RUC are nothing new to me. However it is very disturbing that one of those warned had only recently moved house.

He challenged the RUC to say exactly who was intent on killing him but they refused to disclose any information on the threat.

``It's simply Catch 22, and an extension of the Pontius Pilate approach, `No claim-No blame-No information-No name,'' he said.

It is also emerged that Sinn Féin Councillor Danny Lavery was also warned last weekend that he was being targeted by loyalists. He also received an RUC warning before Christmas.

Lavery, calling on nationalists to be vigilant, said, ``The RUC visited my home last Saturday to tell me that I was in imminent risk of assassination.

``The only information I have been able to glean is that the UFF ceasefire is bogus with several known death squad members seen in various nationalist areas, clearly on targeting missions.

``They are still operating under a flag of convenience, namely the LVF. I am calling on RUC boss Ronnie Flanagan to immediately disclose all the relevant information his force has in relation to these threats.

``If he is aware the UDA/UFF are behind them then he should come clean rather than sit on vital information as he clearly did just weeks ago, especially given the developing circumstances surrounding the Clifton Tavern killing and the hidden forensic history of the weapons used to kill two Catholics since the `renewed' UDA/UFF `ceasefire'.''


An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland