A senior loyalist from the Shankill, acting without authority from the broad UDA leadership, is understood to be behind a threat yesterday to break the combined loyalist paramilitary ceasefire of October 1994.
Senior loyalist sources said a UDA commander based in the loyalist Shankill in west Belfast, who was enlarging on an established reputation for maverick activity, was responsible for the threat to start shooting nationalists.
It was viewed as significant that the threat was issued on behalf of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters' Second Battalion West Belfast Brigade" rather than the overall leadership of the UDA. It was inevitable that the UDA leadership would call a meeting to determine if it could curb the Shankill commander's power, said one senior loyalist source.
Loyalist insiders and observers doubted, however, whether this UDA figurehead could be easily restrained. At a time of tension between the UDA, UVF and Loyalist Volunteer Force, there were fears the statement could mark the beginning of further fragmentation within loyalist paramilitarism, and possibly even an internecine feud.
The Ulster Democratic Party, which is linked to the UDA, moved to distance itself from the statement. The UDP leader Mr Gary McMichael said it was "very worrying" and any attempt to carry out the threat would be a "major mistake".
A masked UDA member flanked by three armed and masked members of the Shankill UDA told a group of journalists yesterday that nationalists were waging "a systematic orchestrated campaign of intimidation" against Protestants living in so-called peaceline areas of north and west Belfast.
It threatened: "From 12 o'clock tonight, June 20th 2000, the UFF reserves the right to shoot any person seen to be attacking Protestant homes. This will be in direct contradiction to our ceasefire, which we have steadfastly adhered to despite intense provocation, but enough is enough."
It prompted Northern Secretary Mr Peter Mandelson to warn that any breach of the UDA ceasefire could have an impact on future prisoner releases. "When you start issuing statements of this kind, or throwing around threats of this kind, think of the consequences not just for Northern Ireland as a whole but for you and the members of your own organisation," he said.
Other nationalist and unionist politicians acknowledged yesterday that there was continuing violence and intimidation in north and west Belfast, but that it was happening in both loyalist and nationalist areas.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the statement, which had come "out of the blue", would create "great fears" in nationalist areas of Belfast. "There was no evidence from the security forces on the ground, either the British army or the RUC, that this was a difficulty, nor was there from community representatives," he told RTE.
