Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

682 • ULSTER FREEDOM FIGHTERStwo days during March 1993, followed by an attack on the predominantlyCatholic village of Greysteel in County Londonderry on 30October 1993 that killed six Catholics and one Protestant. The UDAalong with the UFF joined other Protestant paramilitary groups in declaringa cease-fire on 13 October 1994 in response to the IRA ceasefire.This earned the UDP a place in the multiparty talks beginning inMay 1996. However, when the UDA and UFF broke the cease-firein December 1997 and January 1998, the UDP was expelled from thetalks and only readmitted once the UFF declared a renewed cease-fireon 23 January 1998. Both the UDA and UFF reluctantly agreed to theGood Friday Agreement, which the UDP endorsed in April 1998.On 13 November 2005 the UDA indicated it would “consider itsfuture” in response to the steps taken by both the IRA and the LoyalistVolunteer Force to decommission their weapons and to desistfrom violence. On 1 February 2006 the Independent MonitoringCommission issued its eighth report in which it reported that theUDA was continuing to engage in organized crime, including extortion,drug trafficking, and other criminal activities. In order to repairits public image, the UDA announced on 20 June 2006 the expulsionof several of its members for their involvement in organized crime.On 11 November 2007 the UDA declared that it was standing downits military wing, the UFF, and putting its weapons “beyond use,”although it stated that it was not decommissioning those arms. Atthat time the UDA had approximately 4,000 members while its lastknown attack had occurred on 5 September 2005.Throughout the duration of the Northern Ireland conflict (1968–1998), the UDA was responsible for 261 killings, which includes killingsclaimed by the Loyalist Retaliation and Defence Group during 1991and by the UFF. All Protestant paramilitary groups together accountedfor 1,020 of the 3,524 killings that occurred during this conflict.ULSTER FREEDOM FIGHTERS (UFF). The UFF was actuallynothing more than the death squad covertly operated by the UlsterDefence Association (UDA) allowing the UDA “plausible deniability”for killings that it had ordered. Like its parent group, the UFFwas an anti-Catholic militia formed of Ulster Protestants but markedby more open violence and rowdyism.The UFF not only murdered Irish Republican Army (IRA) activistsand sympathizers but also carried out random killings of Catho-