The largest loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), has disarmed. The move, which came ahead of a February deadline, was facilitated by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.

Loyalists are Northern Ireland Protestants who want to remain part of the United Kingdom. The UDA is the largest and last loyalist paramilitary group to hand over its weapons following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which largely ended three decades of violence - the Troubles - in the province in which at least 3,500 people were killed.

The other main loyalist groups, Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commandos (RHC), announced last June that they were putting all their weapons beyond use.

The Irish Republican Army (IRA), the main republican paramilitary group which fought to be part of the Irish Republic and form a "united Ireland", finished destroying its arsenal four years ago. In 1998, a referendum was held in the Republic of Ireland on its constitutional claim to Northern Ireland. An overwhelming majority voted in favour of relinquishing that claim, officially recognising Northern Ireland as part of the UK.

Devolved self-rule is now in place in Northern Ireland following a landmark agreement in 2007 between the loyalist Democratic Unionists (DUP) and republican Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA.

photo from Wikipedia