Northern Ireland's paramilitaries dump arsenal

BELFAST (Reuters) - Pro-British paramilitary forces said on Saturday they had completed a major milestone in the Northern Ireland peace process by scrapping their weapons in front of independent witnesses.

"The leadership of the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando today confirms it has completed the process of rendering ordnance totally and irreversibly beyond use," said a statement read aloud to reporters in Belfast by a man who said he represented the UVF and the Red Hand Commando.

Military organizations that want to keep Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom have been under pressure for years to start getting rid of arms following the Irish Republican Army's decision to dispose of its weapons in 2005.

"Across every operational area in Northern Ireland and in all regions of Great Britain in conjunction with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning in the presence of independent international witnesses .... the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando have now concluded that process," the statement said.

Northern Ireland has enjoyed relative peace since a 1998 deal ended the IRA's 30-year military campaign to end British control of the province and unite the island of Ireland.

The Ulster Defense Association, which together with its allies the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) had fought against the IRA since the early 1970s, said it had also embarked on a process toward full decommissioning.

"The struggle has ended," the UDA said in a statement. "Peace and democracy have been secured and the need for armed resistance has gone. Consequently we are putting our arsenal of weaponry permanently beyond use."

Efforts to consolidate peace were challenged in March when Republican splinter groups the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA killed two British soldiers and a policeman.

But strong condemnation of the attacks from all sides of the political spectrum and on both sides of the border ended up uniting much of the province's population in favor of expediting the peace process.

"In recent years loyalist organizations have been making effective progress toward conflict transformation, and today is an important landmark in this process," said Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.

(Writing by Andras Gergely in Dublin; Editing by Dominic Evans)