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Roadmap to disbandment of loyalist paramilitaries is not without obstacles

Thirty years after the Combined Loyalist Military Command declared a ceasefire, loyalist paramilitaries remain active and are still recruiting.

A loyalist paramilitary mural in Belfast Thirty years after the Combined Loyalist Military Command declared a ceasefire, loyalist paramilitaries remain active and are still recruiting. They are knee-deep in criminality: drug-dealing, extortion and intimidation. It’s a far cry from the powerful words that were spoken at that news conference in Fernhill House in Glencairn on October 13, 1994.

The CLMC statement came six weeks after the IRA ceasefire. It was read by Gusty Spence, a founding UVF member and an iconic figure for loyalists..