Northern Ireland Protestant paramilitaries to disarm

Woodward welcomed the disarmament announcements.

"For those who have doubted the political process, it is proof that politics works and that guns have no place in a normal society," he said.

Dawn Purvis, a lawmaker with the Progressive Unionist Party, which has been linked to loyalist paramilitary groups, said, "It is time to move on. . . . Peaceful, stable democracy is the way forward for Northern Ireland."

Sectarian strife is by no means ended. In March, republican splinter groups killed a police officer and two British soldiers, raising fear that the "dark days" of open conflict could return.

But politicians on both sides of the divide condemned the shootings and vowed to forge ahead with the peace process.

The Ulster Volunteer Force said Saturday that it began preparing to get rid of its weapons last fall but broke off because of the killings. It resumed the process after receiving assurances that authorities would wholeheartedly pursue those responsible.

Tensions across the religious divide will probably flare with the annual "marching season" about to begin, when partisans, mostly on the Protestant side, hold parades to declare their loyalties.

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henry.chu@latimes.com