No sign of retreat in ongoing battle on issue of arms

THERE have been no signs of compromise or retreat from either the Ulster Unionist Party or Sinn Fein in the continuing brinkmanship battle over decommissioning.

Sinn Fein maintained that the IRA could not move, while the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, predicted the IRA would hand over some arms.

Meanwhile, the Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the UVF, claimed some unionists were endangering the Belfast Agreement because they were seeking to "defeat" the IRA over decommissioning.

The UDA said its ceasefire remained intact but it had no plans to hand over any weapons.

The North's First Minister, Mr Trimble, yesterday took a sanguine view about remarks by the Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, that even a token IRA gesture on decommissioning could undermine the peace process, and destabilise the republican movement.

In Drogheda on Thursday night Mr McLaughlin spoke of "more militaristic" elements within republicanism and said the Omagh bombing demonstrated the absolute need to ensure there were no further dissidents.

In Derry yesterday, Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein said many republicans perceived the demand for decommissioning as to do with "humiliation and surrender". The solution to the problem was through Gen John de Chastelain's decommissioning body, he added.

Mr David Andrews, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, after meeting Mr McGuinness in Derry yesterday, said he was confident the decommissioning issue would be resolved. It would not be a crisis if the deadline for devolution had to be put back, he said.

Mr Trimble said yesterday the IRA knew it had to begin disarming. He said he believed the decommissioning hurdle would be surmounted. The UUP Assembly member, Mr Michael McGimpsey, said Mr McLaughlin was "engaging in threats against the people of Northern Ireland". The Alliance president, Dr Philip McGarry, said Mr McLaughlin's comments were "tantamount to blackmail".

Mr David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party warned that the Belfast Agreement could collapse without some "dramatic" move to resolve the arms question.

The UDA said it would refuse to consider decommissioning because the IRA "remains the single most potent threat to peace in Northern Ireland".ein to be kept out of the executive because "the IRA has refused to signal a permanent end to conflict".

The UDA, using its Ulster Freedom Fighters cover-name, in a Belfast Telegraph interview, said its ceasefire remained intact, and that it continued to back the Belfast Agreement.

Three masked and armed UDA members in paramilitary uniform spoke to the newspaper. Their spokesman called on the loyalist dissident groups, the Red Hand Defenders and the Orange Volunteers to stop their attacks.

The UDA's view, he said, was that the IRA must make the first gesture on decommissioning. The UDA would hold onto its weapons for defensive purposes, he added.

The Northern Ireland Unionist Party, which is anti-agreement, yesterday met the North's political development minister, Mr Paul Murphy, to demand that parties "inextricably linked to terror" should have no role to play in a "democratic process which they secretly conspire to subvert".