The British government last night reacted to the release of two Provisional IRA statements by challenging the paramilitaries to be more specific.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr Paul Murphy, said: "While the original IRA statement does represent some progress, unfortunately it does not answer the questions which the British and Irish governments put to the IRA and Sinn Féin spokespersons.
"Does this mean punishment beatings will end? Does this mean exiling people will end? Does this mean targeting and weapons procurement will end?" he asked.
In a statement headed "UUP calls IRA bluff", the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr David Trimble, said: "More than anything else these statements prove that the IRA were not prepared to engage in acts of completion.
"They talked of a third act of decommissioning, using it as a bargaining chip. They cynically thought that a large act of decommissioning could buy us off, but we called their bluff.
"The truth is they could not answer the simple and straightforward question. They were asked to say that all paramilitary activities would be \ and they couldn't say it.
"Their position is unsustainable and indefensible. As far as the Ulster Unionist Party is concerned, we will maintain the pressure on them to do what they should have done three years ago," Mr Trimble said.
SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan said it was clear that the statement passed to the two governments by the IRA confidentially last month was not as clear as Sinn Féin had claimed.
However, he insisted that the British government was wrong to postpone the Assembly elections.
Mr Durkan said the statement and the recent "word games" between republicans and the two governments "vindicate the SDLP's continued health warning about the dangers of a process being conducted in a way which veers between stand-offery and choreography".