UDA public relations ploy
Cynicism over UDA move
By David Gordon
dgordon@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
31 March 2005
Secretary of State Paul Murphy granted the UDA’s ceasefire official recognition again last November in a move that was met with a large degree of scepticism.
A great many people remain highly cynical about the organisation’s intentions.
They will see yesterday’s “under new management” announcement in east Belfast as nothing more than a cynical public relations exercise.
A more benign view is that the UDA leadership had to begin somewhere if it was serious about clamping down on drugs and general criminality in its ranks.
And east Belfast was not a bad place to start.
The UDA in that part of the city has been associated for years with allegations that it was up to its neck in dealing cocaine and other illegal drugs. Some of them were up to their noses in cocaine too, breaking the old gangster rule: “Don’t get high on your own supply.”
A source close to the loyalist organisation last night claimed the east Belfast changes showed those seeking a new direction were “winning”.
“The days of sorting these things out with hundreds of men on the streets are over,” he claimed.
However, the best the UDA can probably hope for from most observers at this stage is a “wait and see” approach.
The early signs are that the leadership change in east Belfast may not provoke a fresh round of major infighting. But there have been rumbling rumours of possible coup attempts in other areas.
More instability within the UDA would shorten the odds on yet another feud.
