Postal staff returned to work early this morning in most parts of the North. Workers in Derry are to meet today to consider ending their stoppage in protest at the killing of Mr Danny McColgan and the loyalist threats issued against public-sector workers.
The threat against workers was lifted yesterday, according to the Red Hand Defenders. The loyalist group added in a statement that it was disbanding at midnight last night. This follows the warning issued to the group by the Ulster Freedom Fighters on Tuesday night to step down.
Members of the Communication Workers' Union had earlier received an "honest assessment" of the death threats from the Assistant Chief Constable of the Police Service, Mr Alan McQuillan, who said he was "90 per cent sure" that the call containing the threat was not genuine.
He said that police investigations showed that the loyalist death threats against Catholic postal workers "did not come from those who murdered Mr McColgan".
The union later advised members to call an end to the stoppage and the Northern Ireland director of Consignia, which runs the Royal Mail, said that he was "in a position to call upon all our staff to come back to work".
The Ulster Defence Association, the North's largest paramilitary group, has used both the Red Hand Defenders and the UFF as cover names for acts of violence.
The UDA's ceasefire, called in October 1994, was declared a sham by the Secretary of State last autumn following a series of murders. It appears that the various factions under the UDA banner are now engaged in a dangerous farce, issuing threats to each other, and that the organisation is riven with rivalry and confusion. A central faction could be moving to assert some authority over dissident elements.
Mr McQuillan said yesterday that the Red Hand Defenders had been non-existent for some time. "Virtually anybody with 20p can now phone up and claim to represent that organisation. That is the difficulty we face," he said, adding that the organisation's code words were now well-known.
Teachers have placed an advertisement in the Belfast newspapers this morning in which they brand the threats against them as "an act of madness".
Funded by the NAS/UWT union and signed by the union's UK general secretary-designate, Mr Eamonn O'Kane, the advertisement states: "Schools, throughout the troubled history of the last number of years, have provided stability and security when these qualities have been often sadly absent in the other sectors of civil society.
"We reject all attempts to split us into separate camps and we reiterate our absolute determination to work together for the good of education, which will prosper if teachers can teach and pupils learn in an atmosphere free from terror and intimidation."
The union's regional official in the North, Mr Tom McKee, backed tomorrow's half-day peace rally and protest at Belfast City Hall and the rallies planned for Derry, Omagh and Enniskillen, sponsored by the ICTU.
The call to participate was yesterday supported by the North's Finance Minister, Dr Seán Farren. But civil servants were told by their head that he could not endorse them joining the planned rallies. Mr Gerry Loughran said that he supported the sentiment behind the ICTU rallies and had asked departmental managers to facilitate those who wanted to attend, but he could not back a stoppage of work due to the need to maintain public services.
The North's Health Minister, Ms Bairbre de Brún, has allocated £104,000 sterling to finance trauma counselling in north and west Belfast following the events of last week.