The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, has said his "whole strategy" in Northern Ireland has been to get acceptance of the obligation of decommissioning "so that we can then debate timing". In an article in this morning's Times newspaper, Mr Blair said his position had always been that decommissioning had to happen. It was a requirement, not an option. "But the sequencing of whether it begins prior, at, or after the setting up of the executive is a matter of negotiation".
He continued: "I see a lot of sense in it happening contemporaneously with the executive. But I also see merit in it happening strictly in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement - that is not as a prior condition - provided that (a) there was a clear guarantee of decommissioning by Sinn Fein; (b) it was in accordance with the timetable laid down by the Commission on Decommissioning, ending with completion in May 2000; and (c) there was a cast-iron, fail-safe device that if it didn't happen according to the timetable that executive couldn't continue.
"Nobody is remotely suggesting that the unionists should be content with `words'. Words must, of course, lead to deeds. People say: how do you know a guarantee is serious? My answer is: the fail-safe device, if they break it, that executive is ended."
Mr Blair said he had not changed his position on paramilitary decommissioning. His speech in Northern Ireland last week had been twisted in Britain.