The Combined Loyalist Military Command is an umbrella body for
loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
paramilitary groups in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...
, the
Ulster Volunteer Force
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from North ...
and the
Red Hand Commando
The Red Hand Commando (RHC) is a small secretive Ulster loyalism#Paramilitary and vigilante groups, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland that is closely linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Its aim was to combat Irish r ...
, the CLMC sought to ensure that the groups would work towards the same goals. The group was made up of a number of 'Liaison Officers' who were senior figures from the paramilitary groups themselves, as well as from the
Ulster Democratic Party
The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) was a small Ulster loyalism, loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), to replace the New Ulst ...
and the loyalist
Progressive Unionist Party
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunte ...
. The UDP was made up of representatives from UDA and the PUP was made up of representatives from both the RHC and UVF.
1991 Ceasefire
The CLMC first tested the idea of a ceasefire in 1991 when it called a halt to all action from 29 April to 4 July of that year. The only breach of the 10-week ceasefire was the killing by the
Ulster Freedom Fighters
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and Timeline of Ulster Defence Association act ...
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
Councillor in
Buncrana
Buncrana ( ; ) is a town in Inishowen in the north of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern Provinces of Ireland, province in Ireland. The town sits on the eastern shores of Lough Swilly, being northwest of Derry and north of Letterkenny. I ...
,
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
. The UDA justified the killing, insisting that the ceasefire only applied within Northern Ireland. The ceasefire indicated that the CLMC was open to the possibility of ending its campaign and a line of negotiation was opened afterwards with
Robin Eames
Robert Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames (born 27 April 1936) is an Anglican bishop and life peer, who served as Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1986 to 2006.
Early life and education
Eames was born in 1936, the son of ...
, the head of the
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
.
Paramilitary action
The only paramilitary action claimed in the name of the CLMC was a rocket attack on Crumlin Road Prison on 13 December 1991, in retaliation for an IRA bomb in the prison on 24 November 1991 which killed two loyalist prisoners. An
RPG-7
The RPG-7 is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank, rocket launcher. The RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and are now manufactured by the Russian company Bazalt. The weapon has t ...
was fired at the canteen block where republican prisoners were having their evening meal but the rocket bounced off a window grille and failed to explode
1994 Ceasefire
After a long process of consultation with members and activists across
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
, the CLMC called a ceasefire on 13 October 1994, bringing loyalists fully into the
peace process
A peace process is the set of political sociology, sociopolitical negotiations, agreements and actions that aim to solve a specific armed conflict.
Definitions
Prior to an armed conflict occurring, peace processes can include the prevention of ...
. The ceasefire was announced at a press conference at Fernhill House in the Glen cairn area of the Shankill. Former UVF commander and PUP politician
Gusty Spence
Augustus Andrew Spence (28 June 1933 . ''
Drumcree
The ceasefire, however, proved difficult to maintain and in 1996 the CLMC was forced to distance itself from the murder of
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
taxi driver, Michael McGoldrick by the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade. They were further embarrassed by television pictures that year showing loyalists at
Drumcree Church
Drumcree Parish Church, officially The Church of the Ascension, is the Church of Ireland parish church of Drumcree in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It sits on a hill in the townland of Drumcree, outside Portadown. It is a site and structure o ...
being led against the security forces by Billy Wright, at the time the leader of the Mid-Ulster UVF. Following the unsanctioned killing of a Catholic taxi driver by his brigade, Wright, along with the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster UVF, was stood down by the UVF's Brigade Staff (Belfast leadership). Wright was soon expelled from the UVF for his renegade actions along with a number of his followers who soon reconstituted as the
Loyalist Volunteer Force
The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) was an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright (loyalist), Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his unit split from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) a ...
, continuing without ceasefire.
Despite no longer having full control of Loyalism, the CLMC carried on and supported the signing of the
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...
. However, since then the CLMC has effectively ceased to exist as the UVF and UDA were embroiled in a
loyalist feud
Sporadic feuds erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland's various loyalist paramilitary groups after the ethno-political conflict known as the Troubles began in 1969. The feuds have frequently involved conflicts between and within the ...
over
Johnny Adair
John Adair (born 27 October 1963), better known as Johnny Adair or Mad Dog Adair, is a Northern Irish loyalist and the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). Th ...
and commitment to the Agreement has wavered. Overall control of Loyalism has largely been lost to the CLMC and, whilst it is still theoretically maintained, it is no longer the important body that it once was.
The subsequent Loyalist Commission (LC) represented the political work of the new McMichael-ite UDA politicos, known as the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), which followed the now defunct UDP, and the David Ervine-inspired PUP. Led by the UPRGs liberal but tough East Belfast faction, Frankie Gallagher, and Dawn Purvis the new PUP leader, the testing post-Ervine vacuum murders by the CIRA-RIRA alliance were rendered ineffective when even the now larger hard-line Loyalist Volunteer Force refused to retaliate to several murders in March 2009.
Many duly credit the CLMC/LC bodies with the final say in the Northern Irish peace process, in that their groupings managed somehow to not only avoid retaliation to the March 2009 killings, but (some argue) that they brought, albeit unofficially, the un-aligned LVF more into the peace process.
At the Belfast peace rally of 12 March 2009 a community-led body calling itself the Combined Loyalists for Peace appeared. Quoted in the ''Irish Independent'' they stressed that the loyalist communities had a peace strategy and would stick to it. UDA leader Jackie McDonald confirmed the group's thoughts on a BBC interview when he said loyalists would not be goaded into reaction adding that "clowns" would not spoil the loyalist peace strategy. In a carefully choreographed move Frankie Gallahgher met Belfast mayor, Tom Hartley of Sinn Féin in public that same day. Despite goading from rebel republicans, three levels of formerly hard-line loyalism were evident for the first time and in public – the community, the military, and the political. All were showing overt support for no return to violence.
Subsequently, and merely weeks after the dissident republican murders, the groups which had made up the CLMC made separate announcements to the media that arms had been decommissioned. Dawn Purvis, now leader of the PUP mentioned above, quoting the input of influential liberal loyalists such as
Billy Mitchell
William Lendrum Mitchell (December 29, 1879 – February 19, 1936) was a United States Army officer who had a major role in the creation of the United States Air Force.
Mitchell served in France during World War I and, by the conflict's end, ...
and
Billy McCaughey
William McCaughey (c. 1950 – 8 February 2006) was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group and the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force's Glennane gang in the 1970s. He was imprisoned for 16 years for murder from 1980 t ...
, announced on behalf of the UVF and the RHC that all weapons had been put beyond use.
Frankie Gallagher
Frankie Gallagher was a loyalist community worker from Northern Ireland and was along with Tommy Kirkham and Sammy Duddy one of the first leading spokespeople for the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) which offered political advice to the ...
, speaking for the UDA/UFF via the UPRG, stated that their process was underway. This was confirmed by General de Chastelain hours later.
The CLMC set out to see that any conflict resolution initiatives by Irish republicans in the peace process were matched by loyalist groups, and nearly 20 years after its creation, and despite the fact that 'in essence' it no longer existed, it finally and successfully achieved its goals.