By Catherine Brown
On August 10 Sir Patrick Mayhem, Britain's secretary of state for the north of Ireland, announced the banning of the Ulster Defence Association, the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation. Within 24 hours, the UDA offices were continuing to operate under the name Loyalist Prisoners' Aid.
Mayhew explained he was "satisfied that the UDA is actively and primarily engaged in the commission of criminal terrorist acts and so merits proscription. For this purpose it acted as the Ulster Freedom Fighters."
The pretence that it was the UFF, and not the UDA, carrying out sectarian killings has long been transparent.
The ban, under the Emergency Provisions Act, applies only in the north of Ireland. Kenneth Clarke, the home secretary, confirmed that the UDA was free to continue raising cash and support in Scotland.
Only republican organisations — the Irish Republican Army and the Irish Nationalist Liberation Army — are banned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which applies throughout Britain and the north of Ireland.
"For the 21 years the UDA remained legal, the British had agents in it, aware of the sectarian killings", Mitchel McLaughlin, chair of Sinn Fein and its leader on the Derry City Council, told Green Left Weekly. The move was cosmetic, a political decision; it would not affect contacts between the UDA and the security forces, said McLaughlin.
"It is nonsense to expect that the same forces which had worked so closely with the UDA will now take effective action against it. It is clear that the ban is a cynical move by the British which will not stop collusion or sectarian killings of Catholics by UDA death squads."
No-one expects the ban to lead to a crackdown on the UDA or a rounding up of its members. Collusion between the security forces and the UDA is well known, and was the subject of the Stevens Inquiry in 1990. Loyalist paramilitary groups have never been subjected to SAS ambushes despite evidence that the security forces had intelligence of forthcoming operations. Brian Nelson, a British agent, was also a senior UDA member.
The ban means it is an offence to be a member, to solicit funds or membership or to participate in any acts of the UDA. Membership carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment.
The ban was expected. One UDA commander gloated to the press that he wouldn't be a member of any illegal organisation — "now if there was a Defence of Ulster Association formed on Tuesday or lawful group, I would possible join it to defend Ulster".
A recent upsurge of killings by the UDA/UFF has forced an embarrassed British government's hand. To smooth the new round of talks with the Irish government, London wants to appear to be doing something about loyalist violence.
The Democratic Unionist Party has stepped up its campaign to have the government ban Sinn Fein. Ian Paisley, DUP MP, has promised the government a dossier on Sinn Fein, hoping it will result in its proscription.
"If the government could get away with banning Sinn Fein", stated McLaughlin, "it would have". The continuing electoral support for Sinn Fein, the oldest party in Ireland, stays the government's hand. "Sinn Fein has clearly shown it operates as an open, democratic and legal party. In fact, no party in Europe has been under closer scrutiny or more harassment than Sinn Fein."
Since October 1988, when the Thatcher government placed a censorship order on Sinn Fein, no broadcasting media can interview Sinn Fein. This means, McLaughlin pointed out, "Often the people who talk about Sinn Fein policy are our opponents. Even when we run in elections, the people who get the interviews are the ones we defeat. The broadcasting restriction is a political gag on the party and those we represent."
Sinn Fein has run a sustained campaign against censorship in both parts of Ireland. McLaughlin himself currently has a case before the European Court of Human Rights.
Despite the censorship, Sinn Fein " will continue to function as a political party and I think will continue to attract a significant degree of electoral support", said McLaughlin.