The North's first minister, Mr. David Trimble, responding to reports of the IRA's latest comments on decommissioning, said it was a deliberate response to the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr Trimble said in Oslo: "Clearly this is no coincidence. It appears to be a deliberate response by the IRA to the award of the peace prize. It would appear to be their repudiation of peace."
Also speaking in Oslo, the Ulster Unionist Assembly member, Mr Dermot Nesbitt said: "We are in the wider Europe as I stand, this moment, and that form of violence is rejected everywhere, no less so in Northern Ireland, and I trust that it will be rejected by all. But I would not say this means the end of the peace process. We are committed to peace, we are committed to democracy, we are committed to making this work; but we are committed to making this work among democrats."
A spokesman for Mr John Hume said the SDLP leader would study the reports before making a response.
The UK Unionists are asking unionists of all parties to support a motion at the Northern Ireland Assembly next week which it believes would effectively bar Sinn Fein from government until the IRA decommissions.
The motion states that political parties linked to paramilitary groups which retain their weapons cannot be committed to exclusively peaceful means and are thus in breach of the Belfast Agreement.
The resolution also demands an urgent report on the decommissioning impasse from the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, and Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon. The UK Unionist leader, Mr Bob McCartney, said: "I am attempting to unite unionists on the decommissioning issue. It's important that rather than bickering among ourselves we find a position we can all agree on.
"Sinn Fein is inextricably linked to the IRA and the IRA is retaining its weapons and the power to use violence where and when it wants to. Sinn Fein therefore cannot be committed to exclusively peaceful means and under the terms of the Agreement must be barred from the executive."
The motion is likely to be discussed on Tuesday. The DUP will support it. Mr McCartney said some UUP members have told him they will vote for the motion.
Meanwhile, the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said yesterday she was still confident the peace process could move forward. Dr Mowlam said efforts were continuing on all sides to reach agreement on cross-Border bodies.
"It's not an impasse because there is still momentum. It's difficult. It's a tough time, but there will be other tough times."
Speaking in South Wales, where she was supporting the Welsh Secretary, Mr Alun Michael, in a public meeting to promote the Welsh Assembly, Dr Mowlam also announced a first meeting next week to discuss the contributions that Wales and Scotland can make to the British-Irish Council established under the peace proposals.