On the 13th October 1994, six weeks after the IRA announced a ‘complete cessation’ of military activity, the Loyalist paramilitary groups declared a ceasefire.
The statement was made on behalf of the ‘Combined Loyalist Military Command’ (CLMC) by founding UVF member Gusty Spence.
He declared that loyalists would end their violence at midnight, before offering remorse to the families of “innocent” victims of the Troubles.
The CLMC brought together the leadership of main loyalist paramilitaries – the UVF, UDA and the Red Hand Commando.
Although loyalist and republican violence continued in the following years, the CLMC never formally declared an end to its ceasefire; violence never returned to the levels seen during the Troubles.
In this episode of the BelTel, Ciarán Dunbar looks at the lead up to the ceasefire, the announcement, and its legacy today.
He’s joined by the former leader of the Progressive Unionist Party and ex-UVF prisoner Billy Hutchinson, historian Aaron Edwards, Belfast Telegraph security correspondent Allison Morris, and journalists Mark Simpson and Vincent Kearney, who were political correspondents with the Belfast Telegraph at the time.
The story of the loyalist ceasefires 30 years on
