THE multi party talks resume at Stormont this morning amid hopes that the two main nationalist and unionist parties can allow negotiations to proceed without being totally shackled by the decommissioning issue.
The SDLP and the Ulster Unionist Party are due to meet in bilateral session at Stormont today to examine whether they can agree that decommissioning should be addressed in parallel with other issues, rather than having it top of the agenda.
Comments yesterday by the UUP deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, and a leading SDLP talks negotiator, Mr Sean Farren, indicated there could be some meeting of minds on the vexed issue of paramilitary disarmament.
In the light of the despondency caused by Drumcree and the lack of progress in the talks before their adjournment at the end of July, both Mr Taylor and Mr Farren were surprisingly, if cautiously, positive yesterday in their approach to these resumed talks.
One proposal for discussion is that the issue of decommissioning should be referred to a special subcommittee while other issues are tackled in tandem. If agreed, this is likely to cause disharmony between the UUP and the DUP, as the latter is insisting that decommissioning should be tackled and dealt with as the first item on the talks agenda.
Mr Taylor said a meeting between the UUP and SDLP on Thursday had been "useful and encouraging. There is a good atmosphere between us at the moment. The relationship is good and constructive."
He said there would be no decommissioning unless it was mutual loyalist and republican paramilitary disarmament. Therefore, while Sinn Fein was not at the table loyalists would not be expected to disarm.
This accords with Mr Taylor's comments at the end of July when he said the UUP was not seeking total disarmament from either republicans or loyalists during the talks. He was concerned, however, that the Dublin Government had yet to create the necessary legislation to deal with the actual mechanics of decommissioning.
"We feel very let down by the Southern Government on this issue," he told The Irish Times yesterday.
Mr Farren, the SDLP North Antrim representative, said the UUP indicated at Thursday's meeting that they were determined to make progress at these talks and were willing to be more flexible.
He felt it fair to infer from those talks that the UUP would be prepared to have decommissioning dealt with in parallel with other issues. This would be a key matter for discussion between the two parties today, he added.
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said he would be raising the issue of the continued presence of the two loyalist parties under rule 29 of the rules of procedure.
While this issue will be addressed, it does not necessarily mean the imminent expulsion of the parties, as the matter first has to be considered by the chairman, Mr George Mitchell, and the other parties, and then ultimately by the two governments which must decide what "appropriate action" to take. This may allow for some "long fingering" of the matter.
Most other parties including the UUP and the SDLP seem to be reasonably sanguine about the continued presence at the talks of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), while Mr Mitchell and ultimately the two governments address this matter.
Mr John White of the UDP said yesterday that the loyalist parties were still committed to the Mitchell principles of democracy and non violence. "Kicking us out will ado no good as the process needs to be as wide as it possibly can be," he said.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said no one believed the Stormont talks offered any prospect of progress. If a "real and permanent peace is to be restored" then the British and Irish governments must produce a "transparent and convincing talks process", he added.
Mr Seamus Close, the Alliance deputy leader, said decommissioning was an important issue but it must be dealt with in a practical and pragmatic manner.
The Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, addressing the British Irish Association in Oxford on Saturday, said the talks process was the "only real game in town". The talks would be extremely difficult but they offered the only real hope for the future.
"It is clear to everyone that an unequivocal restoration of the IRA ceasefire would be the greatest contribution to restoring confidence. Next must be the maintenance of the loyalist ceasefire," he added.
Sir Patrick told the association that the rule of law had been violently, deliberately and successfully challenged during the summer, providing a horrifying glimpse of what "widespread civil strife would be like".
He praised Mr Hume for his role in helping defuse tensions during the Apprentice Boys parade in Derry, and Mr Trimble for his "courageous initiative and leadership" in ensuring that the talks did not collapse on June 10th over the issue of Mr Mitchell's chairmanship.
Politicians reassemble at Stormont today in the face of appeals for them to take a truly dynamic approach to the talks. The Presbyterian Moderator, the Rev Dr Harry Allen, said that after a summer of sectarian hatred and violence politicians had an almost impossible task.
