By Julian O'Neill
BBC Newsline
Loyalist paramilitaries are going through a period of change, but at a much slower pace than the IRA, according to the 12th report of the Independent Monitoring Commission.
The report said leadership elements ofboth the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force remain committed to moving both organisations away from paramilitary activity and crime, but believed this was not happening at grassroots level.
The most damaging assessment concerned the UVF.
The UVF was behind more threats than any other loyalist group
The IMC reported that the attempted murder of north Belfast loyalist Mark Haddock was sanctioned by the group's leadership.
Haddock, 37, a former UVF member turned informer for the police, was shot six times in Newtownabbey last May.
Also, the report implicated UVF members in the murder of 36-year-old Ronald Mackie in Tobermore, County Londonderry, in July.
The Scotsman was visiting for a band parade and was attacked outside a social club. However, the IMC said the attack was not sanctioned by the UVF leadership.
The report said: "The murder of Ronald Mackie was, we believe the responsibility of a UVF member and associates although we do not think it was sanctioned.
"The attempted murder of Mark Haddock we think was sanctioned.
"The UVF was responsible for more threats against people than any other loyalist group over the 12 months to August 2006.
"Other forms of UVF criminality remain prevalent.
"That said, there have been some signs that people within the leadership have continued efforts to tackle criminality within the organisation and reduce its military capacity."
Turning to the UDA, the commission softened its tone from its last report when it said criminal activity had reached endemic levels. However, the IMC still acknowledged it remained a problem area for the UDA.
Crime is still a problem for the UDA, the report said
The report also stated that people associated with the UDA were behind the murder of Mark Christie, 36, in Bangor in August.
The alleged drug dealer was hacked to death by a gang armed with weapons which included a machete.
"Some indications of more positive leadership which this time have had a useful impact," the IMC said.
"At the same time there continues to be violence and a heavy involvement in crime amongst some members.
"It is likely that the murder of Mark Christie was committed by people connected with the UDA although we have no information to suggest it was sanctioned by the UDA leadership.
"Some individual units still recruit new members. Some have also continued efforts to obtain weapons.
"We think there is a genuine desire on the part of some leading members to steer the organisation away from crime. So far they have had mixed success."
Both loyalist groups are also blamed for carrying out a number of so-called punishment attacks, but at a much reduced level than previously.
Republican mural, Derry 1986, with evidence of vandalism.
The Independent Monitoring Commission has reported that the Provisional Irish Republican Army has undergone major changes within their military structure and shows that the IRA Army Council wants to put its military campaign behind it. The Commission consists of John Alderdice, a former Alliance Party leader; Joe Brosnan, former Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Republic of Ireland; John Grieve, former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and former head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terror Branch; and Dick Kerr, former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Agency.

The report states the IRA no longer has the capacity to mount a military campaign anymore or return to one. The units that have been shut down were responsible for weapons-making, arms smuggling and training. The IRA decommissioned their arms last year.

The report also mentions that the IRA has also put its criminality beyond use and is "clamping down" on criminals within the organization, said Lord Alderdice, as he presented the report. He also added, "That doesn't mean that criminal activity by all members has stopped but the leadership has made public statements and internal directions, investigated incidents of breach of the policy, even expelled some members and has emphasised the importance of ensuring that business affairs are conducted in a legitimate way." 

Finally, the report added that there is not enough evidence or intelligence to identify who killed Denis Donaldson, a British spy who infiltrated the IRA and Sinn Fein, before revealing his status as a spy.

However, the report added that splinter groups like the Real IRA (RIRA) and Continuity IRA (CIRA) are still threats and are still continuing their activity. The Real IRA was the group behind the deadly 1998 Omagh bombing. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) "was not capable of undertaking a sustained campaign against the British State, nor does it aspire to" according to the report.

It is also noted the creation of two new organizations, Oglaigh na hEireann (Irish Gaelic for "Volunteers of Ireland" and is used by the Irish Defence Forces and the various IRAs.) and the Republican Defence Army. However, the groups are small dissident factions according to the report. 

The report also added that the two loyalist paramilitaries, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) are also beginning to move from violence but at slower pace and not at a grassroots level like the IRA. Another loyalist paramilitary, the Loyalist Volunteer Force

The report was received warmly by Irish Toaiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Ahern, said "These positive and clear-cut findings are of the utmost importance and significance. It is time to make decisions and for Northern Ireland to look to the future."

"The IRA has done what we asked it to do, and while issues like policing remain to be solved, the door is now open to a final settlement, which is why the talks next week in Scotland are going to be so important." said Tony Blair in a live statement.

In a surprising reaction, the notoriously hardline leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, also welcomed the report. He believes that his party's pressure is working and if Sinn Fein signs up to policing there could be a deal. Paisley said, "If the police question is settled absolutely on a democratic basis and principle we would have come a long way along the road."

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said "The DUP don't have anything other than very limited options. They will or will not participate in power-sharing arrangements. If they don't participate they are condemning people here, but particularly their own constituents, to second class public services, run by second class fly-in, fly-out British ministers. All the DUP can do is to delay, is to attempt to slow down, but they can't stop the process of changing."