Orangemen rehearsing for Saturday's march on the Ormeau Road: can more troops prevent more trouble?

More Troops Head for Ulster

Four hundred troops from the First Battalion of the Staffordshire Regiment are expected in Northern Ireland by the weekend. The Army said the regiment was going at the request of the RUC Chief Constable.

An Army spokesman said: "We can confirm that a decision has been taken to deploy an additional battalion of troops to support the RUC."

Both the Army Chief in Northern Ireland, Lt Gen Sir Rupert Smith, and the RUC Chief Constable, Ronnie Flanagan, judged that the extra troops were necessary, the spokesman said. The soldiers will be assigned to "specific counter-terrorism measures" during the marching season.

The influx of troops will raise army levels in Northern Ireland to 17,500. The Staffordshire Regiment is used to operating in Northern Ireland, having completed a two year tour of duty in March 1996.

The last time extra troops were sent to the province was during the marching season last year, when there was an upsurge of both Loyalist and Republican violence following the Drumcree march.

The Army has not disclosed where the troops will be based, although it is likely that some will go to Belfast and Londonderry, where Orange Order marches are planned this Saturday, 12 July.

In Londonderry, 10,000 Orangemen are expected to march around the city's walls and through the centre, passing the predominantly nationalist Bogside area. The RUC Divisional Commander in Londonderry, Superintendent Joe McKeever, warned that the city faced a "potentially grave crisis". He said: "There is a real risk of inter-communal violence, the effects of which could last long beyond the coming weekend."

In Belfast, they will march along the nationalist Lower Ormeau Road, in the south of the city. Local residents in both places have said that they will protest against the parades. So far, efforts to resolve these tensions have yielded nothing.

Other crisis spots on Saturday include: Newry, in County Down, Bellaghey, in County Londonderry and Dunloy in County Antrim. In Bellaghey, nationalists demonstrators confronted police on Monday, while in Dunloy there has been a long-running conflict between nationalists and Orangemen.

Tory MP Andrew Hunter, a former chairman of the Conservative backbench Northern Ireland Committee, welcomed the decision to send more troops. "It is a tragedy," he said, "but given the evidence in Northern Ireland it is quite right for the Government to respond in this way."