The Ulster Defence Association has announced that it is standing down its military wing.

And in a statement on Sunday the loyalist organisation also said it would be putting its weapons beyond use.

In its Armistice Day declaration, the UDA said it believed that "the war is over", with the struggle to keep Northern Ireland as part of the UK taking place on "a new and more complex battlefield".

"In consideration of this new reality, all active service units of the Ulster Freedom Fighters will, as from 12pm tonight, stand down with all military intelligence destroyed, and, as a consequence of this, all weaponry will be put beyond use," said the statement.

"The Ulster Defence Association is committed to achieving a society where violence and weaponry are ghosts of the past."

However the UDA said it would not be complying with demands for its weapons to be fully decommissioned.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward called the move "very important" but urged further steps on scrapping the UDA's weapons.

"This is a significant move by the leadership of the UDA," he said.

"It is essential that the commitments they have given today - those of an end to violence and criminality - are implemented on the ground.

"They will be judged by their actions, not their words.

"As part of that it is also essential that the UDA's engagement with the [Independent International Commission on Decommissioning] leads to the decommissioning of its weapons."

Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern also welcomed the move.

"The condemnation of crime and criminality is also important, including the recognition of the damage done to loyalist communities by those engaged in drug-dealing," he added.