Editing Ulster Defence Association

{{short description|Ulster loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1971}}
{{Redirect|C Company|the Bollywood movie|C Kkompany}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=August 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name             = Ulster Defence Association
| image            = [[File:Emblem of the Ulster Defence Association.svg|175px]]
| caption          = Emblem of the Ulster Defence Association
| active           = September 1971 – present (on ceasefire since October 1994; ended armed campaign in November 2007)
| ideology         = {{plainlist|
* [[Ulster loyalism]]
* [[Protestant extremism]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/europe/docs/haagerup84.pdf |title=Report drawn up on behalf of the Political Affairs Committee on the situation in Northern Ireland |author=N. J. Haagerup |date=1983–1984 |publisher=European Parliament |agency=European Communities |access-date=9 October 2018 |archive-date=8 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008205227/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/europe/docs/haagerup84.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Unionism in Ireland|Irish unionism]]
* [[Anti-Catholicism]]
* [[Anti-Irish sentiment]]
* [[Ulster nationalism]] (briefly)}}
| leaders          = {{plainlist|
* [[Charles Harding Smith]] (1971–1973)
* [[Andy Tyrie]] (1973–1988)
* [[John McMichael]] (Commander of the UFF until 1987)<ref name="ReferenceA">David Lister and Hugh Jordan, ''Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair''</ref>
* '''Inner Council:''' [[Jackie McDonald]], [[Johnny Adair]], [[Jim Gray (UDA member)|Jim Gray]], [[Shoukri brothers|Andre Shoukri]], [[Jimbo Simpson|James Simpson]], South East Antrim Commander [[(UDA)| ]], [[Billy McFarland (loyalist)|Billy McFarland]], Matt Kincaid<ref name="ReferenceA"/>}}
| clans            = {{plainlist|
* [[Ulster Young Militants]] (youth wing)|l
* [[Ulster Political Research Group]] (political wing)}}
| headquarters     = [[Belfast]]<ref>{{cite web |title=How the RUC protected the UDA |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/how-the-ruc-protected-the-uda-1.2835249 |website=Irish Times |access-date=9 October 2019 |quote=On May 26th, 1981, the RUC searched UDA headquarters in Belfast&nbsp;... |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111231536/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/how-the-ruc-protected-the-uda-1.2835249 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| area             = {{plainlist|
* [[Northern Ireland]] (mostly)
* [[Republic of Ireland]]
* [[England]]}}
| size             = {{plainlist|*40,000 at its peak (1972)
* Over 5,000 at the end of its armed campaign <ref>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm Organisations: U] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222030139/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm |date=22 February 2011 }}, CAIN</ref>
* 2,000 (2023)<ref>{{cite web |title=Loyalist paramilitaries: Who are the groups in Northern Ireland? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-65092928 |website=BBC News |access-date=22 July 2024 |language=en-gb |date=27 March 2023 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327192752/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-65092928 |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = 
| allies           = {{plainlist|
* [[Loyalist Volunteer Force]]<ref>David Lister and Hugh Jordan ''Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair''</ref>
* [[Red Hand Defenders]] (until 2002)<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1762550.stm | work=BBC News | title=UFF condemns death threats | date=15 January 2002 | access-date=28 March 2010 | archive-date=23 September 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923161134/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/1762550.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>}}
{{flagdeco|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom]] (sometimes)<ref>{{Cite web| title=Perfidious Albion: Cover-up and collusion in Northern Ireland | url=https://www.statewatch.org/media/documents/analyses/no-221-perfidious-albion.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128011258/https://www.statewatch.org/media/documents/analyses/no-221-perfidious-albion.pdf | archive-date=2022-01-28}}</ref>
| opponents        = {{flagdeco|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom]] 
* {{Army|United Kingdom}}
* {{flagicon image|Force Standard of the RUC.png|size=22px}} [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]]
{{flagdeco|Ireland}} [[Republic of Ireland]]
* [[Garda Síochána]]
----
{{plainlist|
* [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]]
* [[Irish National Liberation Army]]
* [[Irish People's Liberation Organization]]
* [[Irish republicanism|Irish republicans]]
* [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalists]]
* [[Ulster Volunteer Force]] (2000–2002)}}
| battles          = [[The Troubles]]
| designated_as_terror_group_by = {{plainlist|
* {{flag|United Kingdom}}
* {{flag|United States}}}}
| identification_symbol_label = Flag
| status           = 
| identification_symbol = [[File:Flag of the Ulster Defence Association.svg|200px]]
}}

The '''Ulster Defence Association''' ('''UDA''') is an [[Ulster loyalism|Ulster loyalist]] [[paramilitary]]<ref>Mulholland, Marc. ''Northern Ireland: A very short introduction''. Oxford University Press, 2002. p.80</ref> group in [[Northern Ireland]]. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups<ref name="bbcuda">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8442746.stm | work=BBC News | title=A history of the UDA | date=6 January 2010 | access-date=28 March 2010 | archive-date=26 July 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726063117/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8442746.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actions|undertook an armed campaign]] of almost 24 years as one of the participants of [[the Troubles]]. Its declared goal was to defend [[Ulster Protestant]] loyalist areas<ref name="bbcuda"/> and to combat [[Irish republicanism]], particularly the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA). In the 1970s, uniformed UDA members openly patrolled these areas armed with batons and held large marches and rallies. Within the UDA was a group tasked with launching paramilitary attacks that used the [[cover name]] '''Ulster Freedom Fighters''' ('''UFF''') so that the UDA would not be outlawed. The British government [[proscription|proscribed]] the UFF as a [[terrorist group]] in November 1973, but the UDA itself was not proscribed until August 1992.<ref name="Proscribed list">{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations--2/proscribed-terrorist-groups-or-organisations-accessible-version |publisher=Home Office |title=Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations |access-date=24 December 2021 }}</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8442746.stm 'A History of the UDA' BBC News. Retrieved 28 December 2021]</ref>

The UDA/UFF were responsible for more than 400 deaths. The vast majority of its victims were [[Irish Catholic]] civilians,<ref name="cain.ulst.ac.uk">{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/crosstabs.html |title=Sutton Index of Deaths: Crosstabulations |publisher=[[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN) |access-date=15 March 2011 |archive-date=24 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324044004/http://www.cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/crosstabs.html |url-status=live }} – choose "organisation" as First Variable and "status summary" as Second Variable</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Terrorism |last=Wright-Neville |first=David |year=2010 |publisher=Polity |page=194 |quote=Between the late 1960s and 2007, the UDA carried out more than 250 killings, the victims of which were mainly Catholic civilians.}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/crosstabs.html |title=Sutton Index of Deaths: Crosstabulations |publisher=[[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN) |access-date=15 March 2011 |archive-date=24 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324044004/http://www.cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/crosstabs.html |url-status=live }} – choose "organisation" as First Variable and "religion summary" as Second Variable</ref> killed at random, in what the group called retaliation for IRA actions or attacks on Protestants.<ref name="auto4">{{cite book |first=Sarah |last=Nelson |title=Ulster's Uncertain Defenders: Loyalists and the Northern Ireland Conflict |publisher=Appletree Press |location=Belfast |year=1984 |pages=117–127}}</ref><ref name="auto3">{{cite news |first=David |last=McKittrick |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ireland-many-of-belfasts-most-deadly-acronyms-are-now-back-in-action-1139723.html |title=Ireland: 'Many of Belfast's most deadly acronyms are now back in action |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020191527/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ireland-many-of-belfasts-most-deadly-acronyms-are-now-back-in-action-1139723.html |archive-date=20 October 2017 |work=The Independent |date=20 January 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/2956161.stm | title=Stevens Inquiry: Key people | date=17 April 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32887445 | title=UK agents 'worked with NI paramilitary killers' | work=BBC News | date=28 May 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20662412 | title=Pat Finucane murder: 'Shocking state collusion', says PM | work=BBC News | date=12 December 2012 }}</ref> High-profile attacks carried out by the group include the [[Top of the Hill bar shooting]], the [[Milltown Cemetery attack|Milltown massacre]], the [[Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting|Sean Graham's]] and [[Attack on James Murray's bookmakers|James Murray's bookmakers' shootings]], the [[1993 Castlerock killings|Castlerock killings]], [[Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews killings|killings of Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews]] and the [[Greysteel massacre]]. Most of its attacks were in Northern Ireland, but from 1972 onward it also carried out bombings in the [[Republic of Ireland]]. The UDA/UFF declared a [[ceasefire]] in 1994 and ended its campaign in 2007, but some of its members have continued to engage in violence.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7089310.stm | work=BBC News | title=UFF given the order to stand down | date=12 November 2007 | access-date=28 March 2010 | archive-date=19 August 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819210400/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7089310.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> The other main Loyalist paramilitary group during the conflict was the [[Ulster Volunteer Force]] (UVF). All three groups are proscribed organisations in the United Kingdom under the [[Terrorism Act 2000]].<ref name="Proscribed list"/><!-- Removed ref to the Act - doesn't support these statements -->

==History==
The Ulster Defence Association emerged from a series of meetings during the middle of 1971 of [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] "[[vigilante]]" groups called "defence associations".<ref name=cain>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm |title=Cain web Service: Abstracts on Organisations |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=22 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222030139/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The largest of these were the [[Shankill Defence Association|Shankill]] and [[Woodvale Defence Association]]s,<ref>Steve Bruce, "Unionists and the Border", in Malcolm Anderson and Everhard Bort, ''The Irish border: history, politics, culture'', p.129</ref> with other groups based in East Belfast, Lower Shankill and Roden Street.<ref>Alan O'Day, ''Terrorism's laboratory: the case of Northern Ireland'', p.118</ref>

===UDA formation===
The first meeting, in September 1971, was chaired by [[Billy Hull]], with Alan Moon of the lower Shankill as its vice-chair. Moon was quickly replaced by Jim Anderson.<ref>Steve Bruce, ''The Red Hand'', p.50</ref><ref name=McDonald04>McDonald, Henry & Cusack, Jim (2004). ''The UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror''. Dublin: Penguin Ireland.</ref>{{rp|20}} Moon, who had become reluctant to be involved in vigilantism since the group's formation, willingly stepped aside and ended his association with the UDA soon afterwards.<ref name=Bruce92>Steve Bruce, ''The Red Hand'', Oxford University Press, 1992</ref>{{rp|50}} The structure of this new movement soon took shape with a thirteen-man Security Council established in January 1972 as a reaction to a [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|Provisional IRA]] bomb the previous month at the [[1971 Balmoral Furniture Company bombing|Balmoral furniture showroom]] on the Shankill which killed four people including two infants.<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|22}}

By this point, [[Charles Harding Smith]] had become the group's leader, with former [[Royal Army Ordnance Corps]] soldier [[Davy Fogel]] as his second-in-command, who trained the new recruits in military tactics, the use of guns, and unarmed combat. Its most prominent early spokesperson was [[Tommy Herron]];<ref name=cain/> however, [[Andy Tyrie]] would emerge as leader soon after.<ref>H. McDonald and J. Cusack, ''UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror'', Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2004, pp. 64–65</ref> Its original motto was ''Cedenta Arma Togae'' ("Law before violence"<ref>{{cite book | last = McAuley  | first = James | title = Ulster Loyalism after the Good Friday Agreement | publisher = [[Palgrave Macmillan]] | year = 2011 | page = 20 | isbn = 978-0230228856}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = McDonald | first1 = Henry | author-link1 = Henry McDonald (writer) | last2 = Cusack | first2 = Jim | title = UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror | publisher = [[Penguin Ireland]] | year = 2004 | page = 64 | isbn = 978-1844880201}}</ref>) and it was a legal organisation until it was banned by the British government on 10 August 1992.<ref name=cain/> Under Smith's command, the UDA was organised along [[paramilitary]] lines into [[battalion]]s, [[Company (military unit)|companies]], [[platoon]]s and [[Section (military unit)|sections]].<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|103}} The organisation drew more members, becoming the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. Unlike its principal rival, the [[Ulster Volunteer Force (1966)|Ulster Volunteer Force]] (UVF), the UDA was legal.

In April 1972, the organisation's leader, [[Charles Harding Smith]] and leading UDA member [[John White (loyalist)|John White]] were arrested in London for gun-trafficking.<ref name="Taylor99">Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.</ref>{{rp|103}}  A temporary ''de facto'' leadership assumed control and Anderson became the acting chairman of the UDA.<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|103}}

At the end of May 1972, Fogel, by then the leader of B Company and Harding Smith's second-in-command, erected the first UDA roadblocks and street barricades, making Woodvale, the area under Fogel's command, a [[no-go area]].<ref name="wood8">Wood, Ian S. (2006). ''Crimes of loyalty: a history of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press. p.8</ref> The operation attracted a great deal of media and press coverage, resulting in much publicity for the UDA.<ref name="wood8"/> [[British Army]] troops under the command of Major-General [[Robert Ford (British Army officer)|Robert Ford]] were sent to the area, where a stand-off with the UDA ensued. Leading UDA figures eventually entered into street negotiations with senior Army officers, where it was eventually agreed that the UDA could erect small temporary barriers in Loyalist neighbourhoods.<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|29}} That summer, the UDA marched through the streets of central Belfast in a massive demonstration of strength.

In December 1972, Harding Smith and White were acquitted and returned to Belfast. Immediately after their return, a fierce power struggle ensued after Harding Smith declared to his associates: "I'm the boss. I take orders from no one".<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|34}} Fogel was promptly ousted from the B Company command, while the formidable East Belfast brigadier, [[Tommy Herron]], appeared on the scene to challenge Harding Smith's leadership. Anderson became joint chairman of the UDA with Harding Smith.<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|114}} The struggle that ensued between Harding Smith and Herron overshadowed the Inner Council and during the height of the feud Anderson often had to call a register at its meetings, so poor were the turnouts.<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|33}} Herron and Anderson became linked and the East Belfast brigadier took to styling himself as deputy leader to Anderson, whom he treated as sole chairman.<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|38}}

By spring 1973, however, Fogel had already returned to his native England, and Anderson decided to stand down.<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|114}} He publicly announced his resignation as joint chairman in March 1973, in part because he was a fairly law-abiding individual who sat uneasily with violently chaotic figures like Harding Smith and Herron. It had been Anderson who had been one of the main thinkers behind the UDA's motto "Law Before Violence" although this was ditched shortly after his resignation in favour of "[[Quis separabit]]".<ref name=McDonald04/>{{rp|64}} As a compromise candidate between the rival factions of Harding Smith and Herron, [[Andy Tyrie]], commander of West Belfast Brigade's A Company, was chosen as the UDA's chairman. He would soon become the UDA's Supreme Commander, a position he held until an attempted car bombing brought about his retirement in March 1988.<ref name="Taylor99"/>{{rp|200}}

Early in its history the UDA was closely associated with the [[Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party|Vanguard]] movement led by [[William Craig (Northern Ireland politician)|William Craig]] and it was regularly described as the "military wing" of Vanguard.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Inside Ulster|url=https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/5b20d820fc632e002b63e847|website=BBC Rewind}}</ref> At a rally in Lisburn in February 1972, Craig inspected uniformed ranks of UDA members. Craig issued a warning during a rally at Ormeau Park the next month, where thousands of UDA men were present: "If the politicians fail us, it might become our responsibility to eliminate the enemy." However, by 1979 the UDA had turned on Craig over his increasingly conciliatory approach to Nationalists and condemnation of the [[Ulster Workers' Council|1977 loyalist strike]], leading the UDA to instead back [[Peter Robinson (Northern Ireland politician)|Peter Robinson]] in [[1979 United Kingdom general election|that year's general election]].<ref>{{cite news|title=William Craig|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/william-craig-nlnsvbcxwm8|access-date=29 November 2022|work=[[The Times]]|language=en|archive-date=13 October 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20211013161930/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/william-craig-nlnsvbcxwm8#selection-845.453-845.694|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Membership===
[[File:UDA march 1972.jpg|thumb|right|250px|UDA members marching through Belfast city centre, mid-1972]]
At its peak of strength it held around forty thousand members, mostly part-time.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1055983,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=The downfall of Mad Dog Adair, part 2 | date=5 October 2003 | access-date=26 May 2010 | archive-date=29 December 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229031540/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1055983,00.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/Slavonic/staff/Rybar4.html |title=The Peace Process in Northern Ireland 2 |publisher=Arts.gla.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625021351/http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/Slavonic/staff/Rybar4.html |archive-date=25 June 2009}}</ref> During this period of legality, the UDA committed a large number of attacks using the name Ulster Freedom Fighters,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/49696.stm | work=BBC News | title=UFF involved in Ulster murders – police chief | access-date=26 May 2010 | archive-date=25 September 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925175220/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/49696.stm | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.meta-religion.com/Extremism/Political_extremism/ulster_defense_association.htm |title=Ulster Defense Association |publisher=Meta-religion.com |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=21 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021093818/https://www.meta-religion.com/Extremism/Political_extremism/ulster_defense_association.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> including the murder of [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]] (SDLP) politician [[Paddy Wilson]] and his companion Irene Andrews in 1973.<ref>{{cite news |first=Rosie |last=Cowan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,888432,00.html |title=The Guardian |newspaper=The Guardian |date=6 February 2003 |access-date=16 June 2010 |location=London |archive-date=23 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923161131/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/feb/04/northernireland.northernireland |url-status=live }}</ref> The UDA was involved in the successful [[Ulster Workers Council Strike]] in 1974, which brought down the [[Sunningdale Agreement]]: a power-sharing agreement for Northern Ireland, which some [[Unionism in Ireland|unionists]] thought conceded too much to [[Irish nationalism|nationalist]] demands. The UDA enforced this [[general strike]] through widespread intimidation across Northern Ireland. The strike was led by [[VUPP]] Assemblyman and UDA member, [[Glenn Barr]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Taylor | first = Peter | author-link = Peter Taylor (Journalist) | title = Loyalists | publisher = [[Bloomsbury Publishing]] | year= 1999 | pages = 128–131 | isbn = 0-7475-4519-7}}</ref>

The UDA were often referred to by the nickname "Wombles" by their rivals, mainly the [[Ulster Volunteer Force]] (UVF). The nickname is derived from the furry fictional children's TV creatures [[The Wombles]], and was given to the UDA because many of its members wore fur-trimmed [[Snorkel parka|parka]]s.<ref name="nelson179">Sarah Nelson (1984). ''Ulster's Uncertain Defenders: Protestants Political, Paramilitary and Community Groups and the Northern Ireland Conflict''. Belfast: Appletree Press, p.179</ref> Its headquarters is in Gawn Street, off the [[Newtownards Road]] in east Belfast,<ref>Murphy, Dervla (1978). ''[[A Place Apart]]''. Great Britain: [[Penguin Books]]. p.150</ref> and its current motto is ''[[Quis separabit?|Quis Separabit]]'', which is [[Latin]] for "Who will separate [us]?".

=== Women's units ===
The UDA had several women's units, which were independent of each other.<ref name="taylor">Taylor, p.136</ref><ref name="mcevoy12">McEvoy, p.12</ref> Although they occasionally helped staff roadblocks, the women's units were typically involved in local community work and responsible for the assembly and delivery of food parcels to UDA prisoners. This was a source of pride for the UDA.<ref name="mcevoy16">"Women Loyalist Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland: Duty, Agency and Empowerment – A Report from the Field". ''All Academic Research''. Sandra McEvoy. 2008. p.16</ref> The first women's unit was founded on the [[Shankill Road]] by [[Wendy Millar|Wendy "Bucket" Millar]], whose sons Herbie and James "Sham" Millar would later become prominent UDA members.<ref name="heraldwilson">{{cite news |last=Wilson |first=Iain |title=Plea for calm as UDA faction heads south; The 40 Loyalists forced out of Belfast for Scotland have decided it is time to move on |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23527846.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105214415/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23527846.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 November 2013 |publisher=The Herald  |access-date=14 May 2012 |date=14 February 2012|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The UDA women's department was headed by Jean Moore, who also came from the Shankill Road. She had also served as the president of the women's auxiliary of the [[Loyalist Association of Workers]]. Her brother Ingram "Jock" Beckett, one of the UDA's founding members, had been killed in March 1972 by a rival UDA faction in an internal dispute.<ref name="dillon232">Dillon, Martin; Lehane, Denis (1973). ''Political murder in Northern Ireland''. Penguin. p.232</ref> Moore was succeeded by [[Hester Dunn]] of east Belfast, who also ran the public relations and administration section at the UDA headquarters.<ref name="wood94">Wood, Ian S. (2006). ''Crimes of Loyalty: a History of the UDA''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p.94</ref> Wendy Millar's Shankill Road group was a particularly active women's unit, and another was based in [[Sandy Row]], south Belfast, a traditional UDA stronghold. The latter was commanded by Elizabeth "Lily" Douglas.<ref name="kiely108">Kiely, David M. (2005). ''Deadlier Than the Male: Ireland's Female Killers''. Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. p.108 {{ISBN|0717138941}}</ref> Her teenaged daughter, Elizabeth was one of the members.<ref name="life"/>

The Sandy Row women's UDA unit was disbanded after it carried out a vicious "romper room" punishment beating on 24 July 1974 which left 32-year-old [[Anne Ogilby killing|Ann Ogilby]] dead. The body of Ogilby, a Protestant single mother who had an affair with the husband of one of the unit's members, was found in a ditch five days later.<ref name="simpson32">Simpson, Alan (1999). ''Murder Madness: true crimes of the Troubles''. Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. p. 32 {{ISBN|978-0-7171-2903-4}}</ref> The day of the fatal beating Ogilby was abducted and forced upstairs to the first floor of a disused bakery in Sandy Row that had been converted into a UDA club. Two teenage girls, Henrietta Cowan and Christine Smith,<ref name="simpson38">Simpson, p.38</ref> acting under Elizabeth Douglas' orders to give Ogilby a "good rompering",<ref name="kiely111"/> punched, kicked, then battered her to death with bricks and sticks; the autopsy later revealed that Ogilby had suffered 24 blows to the head and body. The killing, which was carried out within earshot of Ogilby's six-year-old daughter, caused widespread revulsion throughout Northern Ireland and was condemned by the UDA prisoners serving inside the [[Maze Prison]]. None of the other UDA women's units had consented to or been aware of the fatal punishment beating until it was reported in the news.<ref name="mcevoy12"/> Douglas, Cowan, and Smith were convicted of the murder and sentenced to imprisonment at Armagh Women's Jail. Seven other members of the women's unit and a UDA man were also convicted for their part in the murder.<ref name="life">[http://www.theregionalpressawards.org.uk/userfiles/files/entries-00099-02876.pdf "I heard mum beg for mercy": ''Sunday Life''. Ciaran Barnes. 7 February 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426072323/http://www.theregionalpressawards.org.uk/userfiles/files/entries-00099-02876.pdf |date=26 April 2012 }} Retrieved 28 December 2011</ref><ref name="kiely111">Kiely, David M. (2005). ''Deadlier Than the Male: Ireland's Female Killers''. Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. p.111 {{ISBN|0717138941}}</ref> The UDA "romper rooms", named after [[Romper Room|the children's television programme]], were places where victims were beaten and tortured prior to being killed. This was known as a "rompering". The "romper rooms" were normally located in disused buildings, lock-up garages, warehouses, and rooms above pubs and drinking clubs.<ref name="nelson126">Nelson, pp.126, 146</ref> The use of the "romper rooms" was a more common practice among male members of the UDA than their female counterparts.<ref name="mcevoy12"/>

=== Paramilitary campaign ===
{{See also|Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actions}}
<!-- [[WP:NFCC]] violation: [[File:UDAMembers123.jpg|thumb|250px|Masked and armed UDA members at a show of strength in Belfast]] -->
[[File:Flag of the Ulster Freedom Fighters.svg|thumb|250px|The flag of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" with a clenched fist representing the [[Red Hand of Ulster]] and the Latin motto {{Lang|la|Feriens tego}}, meaning "striking I defend"]]

Starting in 1972 the UDA along with the other main Loyalist paramilitary group the [[Ulster Volunteer Force]], undertook an armed campaign against the Catholic population of Northern Ireland that would last until the end of the troubles. In May 1972, the UDA's pressured leader Tommy Herron decided that responsibility for acts of violence committed by the UDA would be claimed by the "UFF". Its first public statements came one month later.<ref name="UFF">Wood, Ian S., ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA'' (Edinburgh, 2006), p. 21</ref>

The UDA's official position during the Troubles was that if the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (Provisional IRA) called off its campaign of violence, then it would do the same. However, if the British government announced that it was withdrawing from Northern Ireland, then the UDA would act as "the IRA in reverse."<ref name="OBrien_91">Brendan O'Brien, the Long War, the IRA and Sinn Féin (1995), p.91</ref>

Active throughout the Troubles, its armed campaign gained prominence in the early 1990s through [[Johnny Adair]]'s ruthless leadership of the Lower [[Shankill Road|Shankill]] 2nd Battalion, C. Company, which resulted in a greater degree of tactical independence for individual brigades.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/cgi-bin/tab2.pl |title=Table from CAIN showing deaths per year |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=7 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907234718/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/cgi-bin/tab2.pl |url-status=live }}</ref> C. Company's hit squad, led by [[Stephen McKeag]], became notorious for a campaign of random murders of Catholic civilians in the first half of the 1990s.<ref>Henry McDonald & Jim Cusack, ''UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror'', Dublin: Penguin Ireland, 2004, p. 3</ref>

They benefited, along with the Ulster Volunteer Force, and a group called [[Ulster Resistance]] (set up by the [[Democratic Unionist Party]]), from a shipment of arms imported from [[Lebanon]] in 1988.<ref name="OBrien_92">O'Brien p.92</ref> The weapons landed included rocket launchers, 200 rifles, 90 pistols and over 400 grenades.<ref name="OBrien_92"/> Although almost two–thirds of these weapons were later recovered by the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC), they enabled the UDA to launch an assassination campaign against their perceived enemies.

[[Image:Innishargie.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A UFF mural in the [[Kilcooley estate]] in [[Bangor, County Down|Bangor]]]]
[[File:SandyRowMural.JPG|thumb|right|250px|A UFF mural in the [[Sandy Row]] area of South Belfast in 2007 (since painted over in 2012)]]

North Belfast UDA brigadier [[Davy Payne]] was arrested after his "scout" car had been stopped at a RUC checkpoint and large caches of the weaponry were discovered in the boots of his associates' cars. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.

In 1992, [[Brian Nelson (Northern Irish loyalist)|Brian Nelson]], a prominent UDA member who served as the organisation's intelligence chief, was arrested by the [[Stevens Inquiries|Stevens Inquiry Team]]. It was subsequently uncovered that he was also an agent of the [[Force Research Unit]] (FRU), an undercover [[Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)|Intelligence Corps]] unit. Over a period of two months, Nelson dictated a police statement covering 650 pages. He claimed that he had been tasked by his FRU handlers with transforming the UDA into a more effective force, particularly at carrying out killings. Using information supplied by his handlers, Nelson produced dossiers on proposed targets, which were passed on to UDA hitmen. Nelson was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison.<ref>Peter Taylor ''Loyalists''</ref><ref name=IndOb>''[[The Independent]]'' obituary for Brian Nelson, 14 April 2003</ref>

One of the most high-profile UDA attacks came in October 1993, when three masked men attacked a restaurant called the Rising Sun in the predominantly Catholic village of [[Greysteel]], [[County Londonderry]], where two hundred people were celebrating [[Halloween]]. The two men entered and opened fire. Eight people, including six Catholics and two Protestants were killed and nineteen wounded in what became known as the [[Greysteel massacre]]. The "UFF" claimed the attack was in retaliation to the IRA's [[Shankill Road bombing]], which killed nine people seven days earlier.

According to the Sutton database of deaths at the [[University of Ulster]]'s [[Conflict Archive on the Internet|CAIN project]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/crosstabs.html|title=CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths|work=[[Conflict Archive on the Internet]]|publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk|access-date=16 June 2010|archive-date=24 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324044004/http://www.cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/crosstabs.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the UDA was responsible for 259 killings during the Troubles. 220 of its victims were civilians (predominantly Catholics), 37 were other loyalist paramilitaries (including 30 of its own members), three were members of the security forces and 11 were republican paramilitaries. According to the [[Stevens Report|Stevens Enquiry]], a number of these attacks were carried out with the assistance or complicity of elements of the British security forces.<ref name=bbcmay2015>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32887445 "UK agents 'worked with NI paramilitary killers'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124023847/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32887445 |date=24 November 2018 }}, BBC News, 28 May 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20662412 "Pat Finucane murder: 'Shocking state collusion', says PM"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125004348/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20662412 |date=25 January 2021 }}, BBC. Retrieved 11 March 2015.</ref>  The preferred [[modus operandi]] of the UDA was individual killings of civilian targets in nationalist areas, rather than large-scale bomb or mortar attacks.

The UDA employed various codewords whenever they claimed their attacks. These included: "The Crucible", "Titanic", "Ulster Troubles" and "Captain Black".{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

===Post-ceasefire activities===
Its ceasefire was welcomed by the [[Northern Ireland]] Secretary of State, [[Paul Murphy, Baron Murphy of Torfaen|Paul Murphy]], and the [[Chief Constable]] of the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]], [[Hugh Orde]].

[[File:UFF flag in Finvoy.JPG|thumb|left|200px|A UFF flag in Finvoy, a rural area of County Antrim]]

Since the ceasefire, the UDA has been accused of taking [[vigilante]] action against alleged rival drug dealers,<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |url=http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/publications.cfm?id=31 |title=Eighth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission |publisher=Independentmonitoringcommission.org |date=1 February 2006 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=7 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807211957/http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/publications.cfm?id=31 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> including [[tarring and feathering]] a man on the Taughmonagh estate in south Belfast.<ref>Henry McDonald [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,,2160847,00.html Terror gangs fight to keep street power] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024194244/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,,2160847,00.html |date=24 October 2007 }}, ''The Observer'', 2 September 2007. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref><ref>Henry McDonald [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2239941,00.html Law and order Belfast-style as two men are forced on a 'walk of shame'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080116095312/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2239941,00.html |date=16 January 2008 }}, ''The Observer'', 13 January 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> It has also been involved in several [[Loyalist Feud|feud]]s with the UVF, which led to many killings. The UDA has also been riddled by its own internecine warfare, with self-styled "brigadiers" and former figures of power and influence, such as [[Johnny Adair]] and [[Jim Gray (UDA member)|Jim Gray]] (themselves bitter rivals), falling rapidly in and out of favour with the rest of the leadership. Gray and [[John Gregg (UDA)|John Gregg]] are amongst those to have been killed during the internal strife. On 22 February 2003, the UDA announced a "12-month period of military inactivity".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=229252003 |title=Scotland on Sunday |publisher=Scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=16 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116020824/http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=229252003 |url-status=live }}</ref> It said it would review its ceasefire every three months. The [[UPRG]]'s [[Frankie Gallagher]] has since taken a leading role in ending the association between the UDA and drug dealing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.4ni.co.uk/northern_ireland_news.asp?id=68155 |title=Loyalist Drug Dealers Are "Scum" Says UPRG |publisher=4ni.co.uk |date=6 November 2007 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=5 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605041523/http://www.4ni.co.uk/northern_ireland_news.asp?id=68155 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following an August 2005 ''[[Sunday World]]'' article that poked fun at the gambling losses of one of its leaders, the UDA banned the sale of the newspaper from shops in areas it controls. Shops that defy the ban have suffered arson attacks, and at least one newsagent was threatened with death.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/article/040805/sunday_world_faces|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051215212147/http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/article/040805/sunday_world_faces|url-status=dead|title=Press Gazette|archive-date=15 December 2005}}</ref> The [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] began accompanying the paper's delivery vans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060106084530/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-1507-1743605-1187,00.html|url-status=live|title=The Times & The Sunday Times|archive-date=6 January 2006|website=[[The Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2005/aug16_Loyalists_dont_want_to_face_up__SMcKay.php |title=Nuzhound |publisher=Nuzhound |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=12 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612094856/http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2005/aug16_Loyalists_dont_want_to_face_up__SMcKay.php |url-status=live }}</ref> The UDA was also considered to have played an instrumental role in loyalist riots in Belfast in September 2005.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4244158.stm |title=BBC |work=BBC News |date=14 September 2005 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=23 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923161136/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4244158.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 13 November 2005 the UDA announced that it would "consider its future", in the wake of the standing down of the Provisional IRA and [[Loyalist Volunteer Force]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1113/north.html |title=RTÉ |publisher=RTÉ.ie |date=13 November 2005 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=23 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223020209/http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1113/north.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In February 2006, the [[Independent Monitoring Commission]] (IMC) reported UDA involvement in organised crime, drug trafficking, counterfeiting, extortion, money laundering and robbery.<ref name="auto1"/>

[[File:UFF D Company mural.png|thumb|right|250px|A UDA/UFF mural in Bangor]]

On 20 June 2006, the UDA expelled [[Shoukri brothers|Andre Shoukri and his brother Ihab]], two of its senior members who were heavily involved in [[organised crime]]. Some saw this as a sign that the UDA was slowly coming away from crime.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5099082.stm?ls |title=BBC Report |work=BBC News |date=20 June 2006 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=23 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923161140/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5099082.stm?ls |url-status=live }}</ref> The move did see the southeast [[County Antrim|Antrim]] brigade of the UDA, which had been at loggerheads with the leadership for some time, support Shoukri and break away under former UPRG spokesman [[Tommy Kirkham]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2402742.ece|title=UDA expels south east Antrim brigade chiefs|access-date=19 February 2008|archive-date=6 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071106131242/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2402742.ece|url-status=live}}</ref> Other senior members met with [[Taoiseach]] [[Bertie Ahern]] for talks on 13 July in the same year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=75152&pt=n |title=UTV report |publisher=U.tv |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=16 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090316005547/http://www4.u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=75152&pt=n |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 11 November 2007 the UDA announced that the Ulster Freedom Fighters would be stood down from midnight of the same day,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7089310.stm | work=BBC News | title=UFF given the order to stand down | date=12 November 2007 | access-date=26 May 2010 | archive-date=13 November 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113103708/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7089310.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> with its weapons "being put beyond use" although it stressed that these would not be decommissioned.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/protestant-paramilitary-group-in-n-ireland-renounces-violence-1.653729 |title=CBC News: Protestant paramilitary group in N. Ireland renounces violence |publisher=Cbc.ca |date=11 November 2007 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=24 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024011229/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/protestant-paramilitary-group-in-n-ireland-renounces-violence-1.653729 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although the group expressed a willingness to move from criminal activity to "community development", the IMC said it saw little evidence of this move because of the views of its members and the lack of coherence in the group's leadership as a result of its decentralised structure. While the report indicated the leadership intends to move towards its stated goals, factionalism hindered this change and was the strongest hindrance to progress. Although most loyalist actions were curtailed since the IMC's previous report, most of loyalist paramilitary activity was coming from the UDA.

The IMC report concluded that the leadership's willingness to change has resulted in community tension and the group would continue to be monitored, although "the mainstream UDA still has some way to go." Furthermore, the IMC warned the group to "recognise that the organisation's time as a paramilitary group has passed and that decommissioning is inevitable." Decommissioning was said to be the "biggest outstanding issue for loyalist leaders, although not the only one."<ref name="IMC">{{cite web|url=http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/documents/uploads/Twentieth%20Report.pdf|title=412882_HC 1112_Text|access-date=16 June 2010|archive-date=18 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218015532/http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/documents/uploads/Twentieth%20Report.pdf|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

[[File:Ballyduff UFF.png|thumb|left|250px|A UDA/UFF South-East Antrim Brigade mural in Newtownabbey]]

On 6 January 2010, the UDA announced that it had put its weapons "verifiably beyond use".<ref name="decommissioned">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8442683.stm "UDA confirm guns decommissioned"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912045557/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8442683.stm |date=12 September 2017 }} BBC News. Retrieved 8 January 2010.</ref> The decommissioning was completed five weeks before a government amnesty deadline beyond which any weapons found could have been used as evidence for a prosecution.<ref name="decommissioned"/> The decommissioning was confirmed by Canadian General [[John de Chastelain]], chairman of the [[Independent International Commission on Decommissioning]], as well as [[Lord Eames]], former [[Archbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)|Archbishop of Armagh]] and Sir George Quigley, former top civil servant.<ref name="decommissioned2">[https://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jTJRtlWuvOQhi76zBqf_eLEoIp6Q "UDA decommissions all weapons"]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} UK Press Association. Retrieved 8 January 2010.</ref>

Chastelain stated that the decommissioning included arms, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices and the UDA stated that the arms "constitute the totality of those under their control".<ref name="decommissioned"/> Following the decommissioning the [[Ulster Political Research Group]], the UDA's political representatives, stated that the "Ulster Defence Association was formed to defend our communities; we state quite clearly and categorically that this responsibility now rests with the Government and its institutions where legitimacy resides".<ref name="decommissioned2"/> UDA representative Frankie Gallagher also stated that the group now regretted being responsible for the killing of more than 400 people.<ref>[https://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hv9IEu7BFnrX5xi-fa-viPOnzStQ "Northern Ireland's outlawed Ulster Defence Association says it has fully disarmed"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120051420/http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hv9IEu7BFnrX5xi-fa-viPOnzStQ |date=20 January 2010 }} The Canadian Press. Retrieved 8 January 2010.</ref>

[[Shaun Woodward]], the British [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]], stated that this "is a major act of leadership by the UDA and further comprehensive evidence of the success of politics over violence in Northern Ireland" and the act was also welcomed by Sinn Féin and DUP politicians.<ref>[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/uk-ireland/northern-ireland-politicians-hail-uda-move-14624747.html " Northern Ireland politicians hail UDA move "] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109131059/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/uk-ireland/northern-ireland-politicians-hail-uda-move-14624747.html |date=9 January 2010 }} ''Belfast Telegraph''. Retrieved 8 January 2010.</ref> The President of the Republic of Ireland, [[Mary McAleese]], described the decommissioning as "a very positive milestone on the journey of peace".<ref>[http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0107/1224261824063.html "President hails 'milestone on journey of peace'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123170105/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0107/1224261824063.html |date=23 November 2010 }} ''The Irish Times''. Retrieved 8 January 2010.</ref> US Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] also welcomed the move as a step towards lasting peace in Northern Ireland.<ref>[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/07/content_12769836.html " Clinton welcomes weapons decommission by N. Ireland's loyalist paramilitary group "]{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Xinhua. Retrieved 8 January 2010.</ref>

===South East Antrim group===
{{main|UDA South East Antrim Brigade}}

This area also continues to use the "UDA" title in its name, although it too expressed willingness to move towards "community development". Although serious crime is not prevalent among its members, some who were arrested for illegal drug sales and "extortion" were exiled by the Brigade. A clear distinction between the factions was not available in the 20th IMC report, as this was the first report to differentiate between the two.<ref name="IMC"/>

== Politics ==
[[File:Ulster Nationalist flag.png|alt=|thumb|Some UDA leaders supported an independent Northern Ireland in the mid–late 1970s.]]
In the 1970s the group favoured [[Northern Ireland independence]], but they have retreated from this position.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scottishloyalists.co.uk/paramilitaries/uda.htm |title=Ulster Defence Association |publisher=Scottishloyalists.co.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=24 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524130101/http://www.scottishloyalists.co.uk/paramilitaries/uda.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[New Ulster Political Research Group]] (NUPRG) was initially the political wing of the UDA, founded in 1978, which then evolved into the [[Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party]] in 1981 under the leadership of [[John McMichael]], a prominent UDA member killed by the IRA in 1987, amid suspicion that he was set up to be killed by some of his UDA colleagues.

In 1987, the UDA's deputy commander John McMichael (who was then the leader of the UFF) promoted a document entitled ''Common Sense'', which promoted a consensual end to the conflict in Northern Ireland, while maintaining the Union. The document advocated a power-sharing assembly involving both nationalists and unionists, an agreed constitution and new Bill of Rights. It is not clear, however, whether this programme was adopted by the UDA as their official policy.<ref name="OBrien_91"/> However, the killing of McMichael that same year and the subsequent removal of Tyrie from the leadership and his replacement with an Inner Council saw the UDA concentrate on stockpiling weapons rather than political ideas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm#uda |title=UDA |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=22 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222030139/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm#uda |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1989, the ULDP changed its name to the [[Ulster Democratic Party]] (UDP). It finally dissolved itself in 2001 following very limited electoral success and internal difficulties. [[Gary McMichael]], son of John McMichael, was the last leader of the UDP, which supported the signing of the [[Good Friday Agreement]]. The [[Ulster Political Research Group]] (UPRG) was subsequently formed to give political analysis to the UDA and act as community workers in loyalist areas. It is currently represented on the [[Belfast City Council]].

In early January 1994, the UDA released a document calling for [[ethnic cleansing]] and [[repartition of Ireland|repartition]], with the goal of making a new Northern Ireland which would have been wholly Protestant.<ref name="Wood 184-185">Wood, Ian S. ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Pages 184–185.</ref> The plan was to be implemented should the British Army withdraw from Northern Ireland. Areas in the south and west with strong Catholic/nationalist majorities would be handed over to the Republic, and those Catholics left stranded in the "Protestant state" would be "expelled, nullified, or interned".<ref name="Wood 184-185"/> The story was printed in ''[[Sunday Independent (Ireland)|The Sunday Independent]]'' newspaper on 16 January.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |title=CAIN |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=2 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102135434/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The "doomsday plan" was based on the work of Dr [[Liam Kennedy (historian)|Liam Kennedy]], a lecturer at [[Queen's University Belfast]]<ref name="Wood 184-185"/> who in 1986 had published a book called ''Two Ulsters: A Case for Repartition'', although it did not call for ethnic cleansing. The UDP's Raymond Smallwoods said "I wasn't consulted but the scenario set out is a perfectly plausible one".<ref name="Wood 184-185"/> The DUP's [[Sammy Wilson (politician)|Sammy Wilson]] stated that the plan "shows that some loyalist paramilitaries are looking ahead and contemplating what needs to be done to maintain our separate Ulster identity"<ref name="Wood 184-185"/>

== Support from other groups ==
{{See Also|Paramilitary finances in the Troubles}}
The UDA had links with [[Neo-Nazism|Neo-Nazi]] groups in Britain—specifically [[Combat 18]]<ref>Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. ''Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity''. NYU Press, 2003. Page 45.</ref> (formed in 1992) and the [[British Movement|British National Socialist Movement]]<ref>Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. ''Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity''. NYU Press, 2003. Pages 40–41.</ref> (formed in 1985). Members of these groups helped to smuggle weapons for the UDA. The UDA has received backing from Combat 18, the [[British National Front|National Front]] and the [[British National Party]].<ref>Wood, Ian S. ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Page 339-40.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5101420.stm |title=Why UDA expelled 'unlikely loyalists' |work=BBC News |date=8 June 2010 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=8 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208174933/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5101420.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The links may not have been politically motivated, but for mutually beneficial arms deals. On one occasion the UDA sent Louis Scott, one of a few black members of the UDA, to make the transaction.<ref>The UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist terror. Henry McDonald, Jim Cusack</ref> [[Johnny Adair]], who had been in Combat 18 before the UDA, established stronger links once he became a brigadier.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/13/northernireland|title=Why the streets of Bolton echo to the sounds of a loyalist vendetta|first=Henry|last=McDonald|newspaper=The Observer |date=12 July 2003|via=The Guardian|access-date=13 December 2016|archive-date=21 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221112423/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/13/northernireland|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=How loyalists got out of step with fascism |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/how-loyalists-got-out-of-step-with-fascism-28657619.html |website=belfasttelegraph |access-date=3 August 2021 |archive-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420214155/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/how-loyalists-got-out-of-step-with-fascism-28657619.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Red Hand Defenders]] is a cover name used by breakaway factions of the UDA and the LVF.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The term was coined in 1997 when members of the LVF carried out attacks on behalf of Johnny Adair's "UFF 2nd Battalion, 'C' Company (Shankill Road)" and vice versa.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The relationship between the UDA (specifically Adair's West Belfast Brigade, not the wider leadership of the UDA) was initially formed after the death of [[Billy Wright (loyalist)|Billy Wright]], the previous leader of the LVF, and grew from Adair's personal friendship with [[Mark Fulton (loyalist)|Mark 'Swinger' Fulton]], the organisation's new chief.

The necessity for a cover name resulted from the need to avoid tensions between the UDA and the UVF, the organisation from which the LVF had broken away. It was perceived that any open co-operation between the UDA and the LVF would anger the UVF, something which proved to be the case in following years and resulted in a [[loyalist feud]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> There has been debate as to whether or not the Red Hand Defenders have become an entity in their own right<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/rhd.htm |title=FAS |publisher=FAS |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=27 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927072130/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/rhd.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> made up of dissident factions from both the UDA and the LVF (both of which have now declared ceasefires whilst the RHD has not), although much intelligence has been based on the claims of responsibility which, as has been suggested,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> are frequently misleading.

A 1985 [[MI5]] assessment reported that 85% of the UDA's "targeting material" came from security force records.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://standpointmag.co.uk/features-july-august-2015-john-ware-collusion-cut-both-ways-in-the-troubles?page=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2|title=Collusion Cut Both Ways in the Troubles – Standpoint|access-date=4 March 2017|archive-date=4 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304194530/http://standpointmag.co.uk/features-july-august-2015-john-ware-collusion-cut-both-ways-in-the-troubles?page=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2|url-status=live}}</ref>

Scotland was a source of fundraising and other types of aid. Former [[MI5]] agent Willie Carlin said: "There were safe houses in Glasgow and Stirling. The ferry [between Scotland and Northern Ireland] was pivotal in getting arms into the north—and anything like checkpoints, or armed police and Army in Scotland would have b******d that all up."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17965179.inside-story-ira-never-attacked-scotland/|title=Inside story: Why the IRA never attacked Scotland|author=Neil Mackay|date=12 October 2019|publisher=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]]}}</ref> An Irish government memo written by David Donoghue stated: "The commonest contribution of Scots UDA and UVF is to send [[gelignite]]. Explosives for the north were mostly shipped in small boats which set out at night from the Scottish coast and made contact at sea with vessels from Ulster ports." Donoghue noted the links between Orange Lodges in Scotland and loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland and that membership of the [[Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland|Orange Order in Scotland]] at the time was 80,000, and was concentrated in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Inverness.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12445506.revealed-how-scots-loyalists-sent-gelignite-to-paramilitaries-secret-memo-says-explosives-were-shipped-in-small-boats/|title=Revealed: how Scots loyalists sent gelignite to paramilitaries. Secret memo says explosives were shipped in small boats|date=30 December 2005|publisher=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]]}}</ref> The [[Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee]] noted in its report that "in 1992 it was estimated that Scottish support for the UDA and UVF might amount to £100,000 a year."<ref>{{cite report|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmniaf/978/97806.htm|title=Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs - Part One: The continuing threat from paramilitary organisations|date=26 June 2002|website=UK Parliament}}</ref>

Protestants in Canada also supported the loyalist paramilitaries in the conflict. Sociologist Steven Bruce described the support networks in Canada as "the main source of support for loyalism outside the United Kingdom ... [[Ontario]] is to [[Ulster Protestants]] what [[Boston]] is to [[Irish Catholics]]." After the Troubles began, an [[Orange Order in Canada|Orange-Canadian]] loyalist organization known as the Canadian Ulster Loyalist Association (CULA) provided the 'besieged' Protestants with the resources to arm themselves.<ref name="FDWD">McDonald, Henry & Cusack, Jim ''UVF - The Endgame''</ref> A Canadian branch of the UDA also existed and sent $30,000 to the UDA's headquarters in Belfast by 1975. In 1972, five [[Toronto]] businessmen shipped weapons in grain container ships out of [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]], bound for ports in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland which were destined for loyalist militants.<ref name="FDWD"/><ref name="FADD">{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27041321|title=The Canadian Dimension to the Northern Ireland Conflict|author=Andrew Sanders and F. Stuart Ross|date=2020|page=195|journal=The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies|volume=43 |jstor=27041321 }}</ref> 

Between 1979 and 1986, Canadian supporters supplied the UVF/UDA with 100 machine guns and thousands of rifles, grenade launchers, magnum revolvers, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition.<ref name="FDWD"/><ref name="FADD"/> These shipments were considered enough for the UVF/UDA to wage its campaign, most of which were used to kill its victims.<ref name="FDWD"/> On 10 February 1976, following the sudden uptick of violence against Catholic civilians by loyalist militants, Irish [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] [[William Conway (cardinal)|William Conway]] and nine other Catholic bishops met with British Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]] and his cabinet, asking them as to where the loyalist militants had acquired guns, to which [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]] [[Merlyn Rees]] replied "Canada".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1968-1998|author=Margaret M. Scull|page=72|date=2019|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-1925-8118-1}}</ref>

==Structure and leadership==
The UDA is made up of:
* the Inner Council
* the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)—whose role was to carry out attacks on republican and nationalist targets. However, many regard the UFF as merely a covername used when the UDA wished to claim responsibility for attacks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm |title=CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations – 'U' |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=22 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222030139/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
* the Ulster Defence Force (UDF)—whose role was to give "specialist military training" to a select group of UDA members. The UDF was initiated by [[John McMichael]]<ref name="Lister 2004"/> (the then UDA/UFF commander) in 1985 as a response to the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The UDF operated training camps in rural parts of Northern Ireland that young loyalists such as [[Johnny Adair]] claim to have attended.<ref name="Lister 2004"/> One reported 'survival' training technique was to leave trainees stranded in [[Dublin]] with only £1.<ref name="Lister 2004"/> The training, which was described by UDA members as forming "the nucleus of a new loyalist army at the ready", was made possible thanks to "a sophisticated network of legal businesses" which allowed for the implementation of ambitious training programmes.<ref>Wood, Ian S. ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Page 123.</ref>
* the [[Ulster Young Militants]] (UYM)—the "youth wing" of the group. Formed in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/yorgan.htm |title=CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations – 'Y' |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=6 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806150545/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/yorgan.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
* the [[Ulster Political Research Group]] (UPRG)—the UDA's "political advisory body". Formed in 1978.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/norgan.htm |title=CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations – 'N' |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=14 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514135237/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/norgan.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The UDA operated a devolved structure of leadership, each with a brigadier representing one of its six "brigade areas".<ref name="Lister 2004">{{cite book | last = Lister| first = David| title = Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and C Company| publisher = Cox & Wyman | year=  2004| isbn = 978-1-84018-890-5}}</ref> It is not clear whether this brigade structure has been maintained in the UDA's post cease-fire state. The UDA's six "brigade areas" were:
* North Belfast
* East Belfast
* [[UDA South Belfast Brigade|South Belfast]], the UDA's largest brigade area, covering all of South Belfast down to Lisburn and operating as far away as South County Down, Lurgan, Portadown and Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh.<ref name="McDonaldCusack186187">McDonald & Cusack, ''UDA'', pp.186–187</ref>
* [[UDA West Belfast Brigade|West Belfast]]
* [[UDA South East Antrim Brigade|Southeast [County] Antrim]]
* North County Antrim & County Londonderry
[[File:Dervock UDA wall sign.JPG|thumb|right|A wall sign in [[Dervock]] showing support for the North Antrim and Londonderry brigade]]

In addition to these six core brigades two others may have existed. A seventh Mid-Ulster Brigade is mentioned by Steve Bruce as having existed for part of the UDA's history<ref>Steve Bruce, ''The Edge of the Union'', Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 157</ref> although Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack characterise this as a "battalion" rather than a brigade and suggest that its rural location prevented it from fully developing.<ref>McDonald & Cusack, ''UDA'', p. 25</ref> In the late 1970s a Scottish Brigade was established under the command of Roddy McDonald but this proved short-lived. The security forces infiltrated this brigade almost immediately and in 1979 arrested almost its entire membership, ninety people in all. Six members received particularly lengthy prison sentences for their involvement in UDA activities in [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]] and the Scottish Brigade quietly disappeared.<ref>McDonald & Cusack, ''UDA'', pp. 108–109</ref>

Some of the notable brigadiers include:

[[Jackie McDonald]]—South Belfast (~1980s–present)<ref name="Lister 2004 280–283">{{cite book | last = Lister| first = David| title = Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and C Company| publisher = Cox & Wyman | year=  2004| pages = 280–283 | isbn = 978-1-84018-890-5}}</ref>
Resident of the Taughmonagh estate in South Belfast.<ref name="Lister 2004 280–283"/> McDonald was a cautious supporter of the UDA's ceasefire and a harsh critic of Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair during his final years of membership of the organisation.<ref name="Lister 2004 280–283"/> McDonald remains the only brigadier who did not have a commonly used nickname.

Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair—West Belfast (1990–2002)<ref name="Lister 2004"/>
An active figure in the UDA/UFF, Adair rose to notoriety in the early 1990s when he led the ''2nd Battalion, C Company'' unit in West Belfast which was responsible for one of the bloodiest killing sprees of [[the Troubles]].<ref name="Lister 2004"/>

[[Jim Gray (UDA member)|Jim 'Doris Day' Gray]]—East Belfast (1992–2005)<ref name="Lister 2004"/><ref>Wood, Ian S. ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Page 299.</ref> An unlikely figure in Northern Ireland loyalism, the openly bisexual<ref name="Lister 2004"/> Gray was a controversial figure in the organisation until his death on 4 October 2005. Always flamboyantly dressed, Gray was a key figure in the UDA's negotiations with [[Northern Ireland Secretary]] [[John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan|John Reid]]. It is widely believed that Gray received his nickname from the [[RUC Special Branch]].<ref name="Lister 2004"/>

[[Jimbo Simpson|Jimbo 'Bacardi Brigadier' Simpson]]—North Belfast (Unknown–2002)<ref name="Lister 2004"/> Simpson is believed to have been an alcoholic, hence his nickname. He was leader of the UDA in the volatile North Belfast area, an interface between Catholics and Protestants in the [[New Lodge, Belfast|New Lodge]] and [[Tiger's Bay]] neighbourhoods.<ref name="Lister 2004"/>

[[Billy McFarland (loyalist)|Billy 'The Mexican' McFarland]]—North Antrim and Londonderry (Unknown–2013)<ref name="Lister 2004"/> He earned his nickname because of his moustache and swarthy appearance, and had overall command of the UDA's North Antrim and Londonderry brigade at the time of the [[Belfast Agreement|Good Friday Agreement]]. He supported the leadership against [[Johnny Adair]] and has been associated with the magazine 'Warrior', which makes the case for [[Ulster nationalism|Ulster Independence]].

[[Shoukri brothers|Andre 'The Egyptian' Shoukri]]<ref name="Lister 2004"/>—North Belfast (2002–2005)<ref name="Lister 2004"/> Initially a close ally of Johnny Adair, Shoukri and his brother Ihab became involved with the UDA in his native North Belfast. The son of an Egyptian father and a Northern Irish mother, he was expelled from the UDA in 2005 following allegations of criminality.

[[John Gregg (UDA)|John 'Grug' Gregg]]—South East Antrim (c.1993<ref>Wood, Ian S. ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Page 351.</ref>–2003) John 'Grug' Gregg was a man with a fearsome reputation within the loyalist movement, known as a "Hawk" in loyalist circles, and controlled the streets of south east Antrim. On 14 March 1984, he severely wounded Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in an assassination attempt for which he was jailed. When asked by the BBC in prison if he regretted anything about the shooting, his reply was "only that I didn't succeed." He was killed on Belfast's Nelson Street, along with another UDA member (Rab Carson), while travelling in a taxi from the docks in 2003, and the murder was blamed on supporters of Johnny Adair, who had recently been expelled from the UDA in 2002.

==Deaths as a result of activity==
[[File:UDA memorial plaque.JPG|thumb|right|UDA South Belfast Brigade memorial plaque in Sandy Row]]
Malcolm Sutton's ''Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland'', part of the [[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN), states that the UDA/UFF was responsible for at least 260 killings, and lists a further 256 loyalist killings that have not yet been attributed to a particular group.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Organisation_Responsible.html |title=Sutton Index of Deaths: Organisation responsible for the death |publisher=[[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN) |access-date=1 September 2014 |archive-date=9 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709035408/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Organisation_Responsible.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the book ''Lost Lives'' (2006 edition), it was responsible for 431 killings.<ref name=lostlives-stats>[[David McKittrick]] et al. ''Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles''. Random House, 2006. pp. 1551–54</ref>

Of those killed by the UDA/UFF:<ref name="cain.ulst.ac.uk"/>
* 209 (~80%) were civilians, 12 of whom were civilian political activists
* 11 (~4%) were members or former members of republican paramilitary groups
* 37 (~14%) were members or former members of loyalist paramilitary groups
* 3 (~1%) were members of the British security forces

The CAIN database says there were 91 UDA members and four former members killed in the conflict.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Status.html |title=Sutton Index of Deaths: Status of the person killed |publisher=[[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN) |access-date=1 September 2014 |archive-date=14 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514142516/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Status.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Real Ulster Freedom Fighters]]
* [[Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actions]]
* [[Ulster Volunteer Force]]
* [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]]
* [[Irish National Liberation Army]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Bruce, Steve. ''The Red Hand'', 1992, {{ISBN|0-19-215961-5}}
* Crawford, Colin. ''Inside the UDA: Volunteers and Violence,'' 2003.
* Moloney, Ed.''The Secret History of the IRA''
* [[Brendan O'Brien (journalist)|O'Brien, Brendan]]. ''The Long War, the IRA and Sinn Féin''
* Wood, Ian S., ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''

{{The Troubles}}
{{Ulster Defence Association}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ulster Defence Association]]
[[Category:Organised crime groups in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ulster loyalist militant groups]]