Editing Loyalist Volunteer Force (section)

===Good Friday Agreement and ceasefire===
In March 1998, during the negotiations for the [[Good Friday Agreement]], the LVF issued a statement backing the anti-agreement [[Democratic Unionist Party]] (DUP), saying the party's leader, [[Ian Paisley]], had got it "absolutely right".<ref>[http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1998/03/09/ihead.htm Air services to return to normal after strike deal] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929111310/http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1998/03/09/ihead.htm |date=29 September 2007 }} Irish News, 9 March 1998</ref> DUP Member of Parliament [[William McCrea, Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown|Willie McCrea]] appeared on public platforms with LVF leaders.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/936685.stm The gospel-singing MP] BBC Northern Ireland, 22 September 2000</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Election '97: Voters dream of day when hope and history rhyme |author=David McKittrick |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970423/ai_n14113046 |newspaper=The Independent |date=23 April 1997 |access-date=25 March 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924095148/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970423/ai_n14113046 |archive-date=24 September 2015 }}</ref>

In May 1998 the LVF called a ceasefire and urged people to vote 'No' in the [[1998 Northern Ireland Belfast Agreement referendum|referendum on the Agreement]]. The [[Northern Ireland Office]] accepted its ceasefire in November, making LVF prisoners eligible for early release under the Agreement. Later, it handed over a small amount of weapons to the [[Independent International Commission on Decommissioning]]. The decommissioned weapons were as follows:
*4 sub-machine guns
*2 rifles
*2 pistols
*1 sawn-off shotgun
*2 pipe bombs
*various ammunition and detonators

The destruction of some of the LVF arms were recorded by video. However, since the weapons were decommissioned in mid-1998, the LVF has killed four people. {{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}