LONDON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The Ulster Volunteer Force, a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, announced it had renounced violence on Thursday.

    "The leadership of the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando today make public the outcome of our three year consultation process," said an official statement.

    "We welcome recent developments in securing stable, durable democratic structures in Northern Ireland and accept as significant, support by the mainstream republican movement of the constitutional status quo," it added.

    The announcement came after reports said that the group was about to follow the example set by the Irish Republican Army (IRA),another paramilitary group associated with Sinn Fein, almost two years ago.

    The Ulster Volunteer Force pledged to assume a "non-military, civilized role" starting from Thursday, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.

    The statement also noted that all recruitment, military training and targeting have ceased and that all its active service units and intelligence be de-activated.

    The announcement marks the end of the group's 41-year paramilitary history which witnessed the murder of more than 500 people.

    Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Irish Republic's Taoiseach Bertie Ahern are due in Belfast next Tuesday for the restoration of the power-sharing government at the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont.

    Media reports said the statement is a result of meetings between political representatives of the group and Ahern, and with Peter Hain, secretary of Northern Ireland affairs.