THE Ulster Democratic Party leader, Mr Gary McMichael, speaking at his party's first annual conference on Saturday, called on the British and Irish governments to crack down on the IRA on both sides of the Border.
Mr McMichael paid tribute to the Combined Loyalist Military Command for holding the ceasefire through difficult times but warned that should the talks process fail, the implications would be "too horrific to contemplate".
"The entire community which opposes the IRA is depending upon loyalism not to succumb to the IRA's taunts. Republicans do not want a settlement. They want war. It is this party's first priority to try to ensure that they do not have it."
He urged the British government to protect people in the North from the IRA. "They must meet that threat directly and with immediacy before we are plunged back into wider conflict."
Mr McMichael said a reinstatement of the 1994 IRA ceasefire would be insufficient grounds for loyalists to accept Sinn Fein into negotiations. He added that its inclusion in the talks would not advance "inclusiveness" if by its participation some or all the unionists or loyalist parties walked away from the table. He urged nationalists in West Belfast not to vote for Gerry Adams at the forthcoming election.
Speaking at the La Mon House Hotel at Castlereagh near Belfast, where 12 people were killed 19 years ago last week, Mr McMichael sympathised with the families of those killed on Bloody Sunday and urged that if any new evidence exists, it should be forwarded to the British government. However, he accused Sinn Fein of hijacking the issue and manipulating the families for "their own selfish ends".
Referring to the peace process, Mr McMichael said republicans "must learn that it is not the British government with whom peace shall be negotiated, it is the other democratic representatives who disagree with Sinn Fein's analysis. It is not John Major they must convince, it is people like me, because it is not John Major with whom they must learn to share Northern Ireland, it is me and the rest of the population who will not accept the analysis and will not accept Irish unity."
In a message to the Irish Government, he said: "John Bruton has uttered welcome words condemning the tactics of the IRA, but what we want to see from Mr Bruton's Government is strong, decisive action to root the IRA, these anti Irish people, out of their safe hiding places in the Republic.
"They must address the serious concerns felt within the loyalist community if their motives are to be considered with anything but suspicion. The commitment of that Government to respect the democratic wishes of the Northern Ireland people by its recognition of the principle of consent is at odds with its refusal to retract its constitutional territorial claim over our country.
"I know I can speak for the entire loyalist community when I state loudly and clearly that we shall never accept a role for the Irish Republic in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland."