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Cycle of violence
Four men have died since last week's PFC news update in continuing violence which has plunged the political talks process into crisis.In the early hours of 18 Jan 28 year old Fergal Mc Cusker was grabbed by a number of men as he returned from a bar in the centre of Maghera Co Derry. He was taken into a doorway and shot dead because he was Catholic. Fergal Mc Cusker had just returned from the US where he had been working.Local people reported that three men, two of whom had their faces painted orange, were seen leaving the scene and there is also speculation that a group of men had tried unsucessfully to gain access to a nearby bar through a side door shortly beforehand in circumstances suggesting that an attack on the bar was intended. The loyalist LVF claimed the killing.

The following morning the INLA, a small republican group, shot dead Jim Guiney at his carpet shop in Dunmurray in Belfast. The murdered man, a father of four, was reported in the media as being a "leading Belfast loyalist" and "UDA Commander" in the area. On the Monday evening a Catholic taxi driver, 52 year old Larry Brennan, was shot dead on the Ormeau Rd in Belfast while sitting in his taxi. The dance of death continued on the Wednesday evening when Bernedict Hughes, a Catholic father of three, was shot dead as he left work in the loyalist Donegall Rd area of Belfast. Three hours later another Catholic taxi driver narrowly escaped death when a bogus call turned out to be a loyalist assassination attempt in North Belfast. Though grazed by a bullet the driver managed to drive himself to hospital. Soon after a Protestant man was critically injured in a further attack in the Shaws Bridge area of the city. This attack has also been attributed to loyalists though no information has as yet emerged as to the motive. On Thursday Jan 22 the RUC Chief Constable announced that the UFF/UDA were also involved in three of the latest killings. If this information proves correct ( and caution is urged in regard to RUC statements) then the talks process is indeed in deep trouble as this might well force the withdrawal of the loyalist UDP from the Talks thus weakening the unionist position.

Reaction to the Violence
Within the nationalist community there is growing anger and frustration at both the media and unionist reaction to the latest deaths. Many within the media continue to refer to killings as "tit for tat sectarian murders". The subtext is that of two tribes waging mindless violence with Her Majesty's Government the unfortunate referee. In the interests of accuracy it is important to put on record that a campaign of murder against totally innocent Catholics has been waged by loyalist paramilitaries since well before the death of the LVF leader Billy Wright on December 27. That campaign has certainly intensified since the INLA killing of Billy Wright. Six Catholics have been murdered since Christmas. It is accurate to describe these attacks as sectarian. Victims are picked at random merely because they are Catholic. The aim is to terrorise the nationalist community into accepting an internal settlement of the conflict, ie: acceptance of the (British) status quo. The second aim is to send a warning to the British and Irish Governments. Do not alter the fundamental nature of the Northern Irish state. This aim would appear to have succeeded, in the short term at least.

The violence of the republican INLA to date has involved the murder of two leading loyalist paramilitaries, Billy Wright and Jim Guiney. Neither attack can be described as sectarian though there can be no doubting that both attacks were certain to cause great anger within loyalist circles. These individuals though were not killed because of their religion but because of their role in loyalist paramilitarism though this will obviously be of little comfort to the bereaved families. The media fixation on "tit for tat sectarian murders" does little to explain the reality on the ground. The Belfast newspaper the Irish News highlighted this frustration when it reprinted the comments of readers who contacted a special phone line on January 21. To quote the paper,"Irish News readers have hit out at claims that Catholic killings are being carried out in retaliation for the murder of Billy Wright."

Unionist Response
The response of Unionist 'constitutional' politicans has served to aggravate an already volatile situation. Half hearted condemnations of loyalist violence are inevitably followed in the next sentence with words of excuse and qualification. In recent days Unionist MPs Jeffrey Donaldson, Ken Maginnis, and John Taylor have all sought to direct attention away from violence emanating from within loyalism and refocus on the traditional enemy, the IRA, and to a lesser extent on the Labour Government.John Taylor in particular has a history of ambivalence towards loyalist violence.In September 1993 he said in relation to loyalist murders of Catholics "in a perverse way this is something which may be helpful because they..(Catholics)..are now beginning to appreciate more clearly the fear that has existed within the Protestant community for the past twenty years as they have been killed at random by the IRA." (Irish News 9.9.1993) In the two weeks preceding the statement five Catholics had been murdered. Ian Paisley, the DUP leader, argued this week that the LVF are among "those who oppose the present sell-out of our country." Both his party and the LVF oppose the talks process as a 'sell-out' and the statement suggests that he regards the LVF as an ally. Some weeks ago he told the Belfast Telegraph that it would be wrong for the security forces to clamp down on the LVF. The links between the Rev William Mc Crea of the DUP and Billy Wright have been documented (see last update). It is also known that DUP councillors pay frequent visits to LVF prisoners. The PUP leader David Ervine has alluded this week to 'respectable' politicans who are colluding in the LVF campaign of terror though it remains unclear just who is being referred to. There is also speculation that some within the security establishment would welcome a derailing of the entire process.

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Bloody Sunday
The planned statement from the British Government on Bloody Sunday failed to materialise on Wednesday January 21. Intense media speculation had suggested that PM Tony Blair intended offering a limited apology and announcing the creation of a non- prosecuting inquiry led by a British judge. Relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims then made it clear to the Irish Government in a meeting in Dublin on January 16 that the British proposals would not be acceptable. As a result the Irish Government put pressure on Britain to delay any statement. As was made clear in last week's update relatives will accept nothing less than an independent inquiry with an international dimension. One proposal is for an inquiry led by three judges from Britain, Ireland and the European Community.

Meanwhile the position of the British Government has been complicated due to interviews given to Channel 4 News by the former Prime Minister at the time, Edward Heath, and the British Army officer in charge of paratroopers on the ground that day, Derek Wilford. Heath rejected the need for any further inquiry and made the astounding claim that the the now discredited Widgery Tribunal had been "fair". In the same broadcast Wilford, who now lives in France, praised thebehavior of his men as "magnificent" and stated that any apology by the Government would not be on his behalf or on the behalf of his men. In an Orwellian example of military speak he admitted that some of those murdered had received "bullets in their bodies" but denied that they were "deliberately murdered".

Further evidence of the backlash against any admission of guilt came in a full page article in the Glasgow Herald by the Defence correspondent, Ian Bruce, which demonstrated either a complete lack of professionalism by the said author or a deliberate falsification by the author acting in concert with spindoctors from the Ministry of Defence.Among other things the author claimed that the IRA fired on paratroopers in Rossville St from the Creggan Estate. An interesting theory given that Creggan is some two miles from the scene and and not even visible from Rossville St.

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Robert Hamill Case
In the final PFC update of 1997 we made an appeal for funds for the family of murdered Portadown man Robert Hamill. Robert, a Catholic, was kicked to death by a loyalist mob in april 1997 while four RUC officers looked on from their parked landrover and refused to intervene. As charges against five of the six men originally arrested in connection with the murder have now been dropped the family are intending to take an unprecedented private prosecution against those believed to be responsible for the murder and against the RUC who failed to protect Robert Hamill on the night in question. Despite appeals from the family and a petition signed by over 20,000 people the RUC Chief Constable has refused to even suspend the concerned officers. Donations are urgently required by the Hamill family to fund the prosecution and we would again strongly urge individuals and organisations to support the family. We will shortly be posting a comprehensive factfile on the Hamill case on this site. Since December the address for donations has changed. Monies can be forwarded to: Bank of Ireland, Robert Hamill Justice Fund,Sorting code 902354 Account Nr 26672139, Portadown

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