SF and SDLP reject elected assembly

AS the decommissioning body continues its busy round of meetings with Northern and Southern political representatives, the SDLP and Sinn Fein again have insisted that a new elected Northern assembly is a "non-runner

After meeting the loyalist fringe parties and the Alliance Party yesterday, Senator George Mitchell would only say that he hoped to be able to make a "constructive contribution" to pushing the peace process forward.

Mr Mitchell said that the meetings were "going very well", but he refused to volunteer any substantive information to reporters about what progress the decommissioning body had achieved to date.

Sinn Fein yesterday rowed back from the position expressed by its party chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, on Friday that it might engage in a scaled down elected forum, if the party was satisfied with the body's remit.

Sinn Fein vice-president, Mr Martin

McGuinness, reasserted that the issue of an assembly could only be dealt with in the context of all-party talks. His view was trenchantly endorsed by the SDLP leader Mr John Hume.

Mr McLaughlin had stated Sinn Fein would seriously consider a reported British proposal for a new 45-member elected body for the North, rather than a 90-member body. If Sinn Fein were happy with the detail of the proposal it could go "some way" towards meeting its requirements for all-party talks, he said.

In subsequent statements over the weekend, however, Mr. McLaughlin deviated from that position and "restated the party's implacable opposition to any return to Stormont".

A Sinn Fein spokesman denied that Mr McLaughlin had been "rapped over the knuckles for going offside" from party policy, although one senior nationalist politician believed this was the case. It was a case of Mr McLaughlin's remarks being misinterpreted, Sinn Fein said.

Mr Hume and Mr McGuinness, in a number of weekend interviews, restated that a new elected body - even if it were time-limited and its sole remit would be to arrive at a political settlement - was "totally unacceptable".

The SDLP leader said commonsense stated that such an assembly would result in "a shouting match" where it would be impossible for politicians, some fighting on extreme mandates, to reach agreement.

"There is no way we will consider an elected body as a means of starting the dialogue because it will only make dialogue much more difficult, and make it virtually impossible to reach agreement. That is our position," Mr Hume said.

Furthermore, an elected body seeking to reach a solution would upset the three-strand approach to a settlement and would move the onus of central responsibility from the British and Irish governments to the assembly.

Mr McGuinness was equally emphatic in his opposition to the proposal. He claimed this was a tactic by the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, and the British government to delay all-party talks.

He opposed the assembly for four reasons: it would be an invitation for intransigent politicians to "remain in the bunker"; it would "stiffen the resolve" of those demanding a purely internal Northern settlement; it would "detach" Dublin from its role in negotiations; and it would prevent "meaningful all-party dialogue".

Sinn Fein was opposed to an assembly whether it had 90 members or 45 members.

Mr William Ross, the Ulster Unionist MP for East Derry, said that nationalist politicians were misreading the value and nature of a future assembly. A new elected body was important because the democratic mandate of Sinn Fein and other parties needed to be properly tested, he said.

The Alliance leader, Dr John Alderdice, after meeting the Mitchell commission yesterday, argued the merits of an election to a new body. "If the only way forward is elections then for goodness sake let's get on with it; don't let's be stubborn about it," he said.

Meanwhile, a flurry of political activity is continuing in the run-up to the scheduled publication of the report from the International Body on Decommissioning at the end of the week.

This afternoon the SDLP is to meet the British and Irish governments at Stormont, with Sinn Fein due to meet the two governments on Wednesday. This move to trilateral meetings was described as a "minimal" development by Mr McGuinness yesterday.

Senator Mitchell's decommissioning body met the Alliance Party and the fringe loyalist parties - the Ulster Democratic Party and the Progressive Unionist Party - in Belfast yesterday. It is due to meet the Ulster Unionist Party this morning, with a further meeting with Sinn Fein planned for the afternoon.

The decommissioning body is also planning to have a least one further meeting - possibly on Wednesday - with the fringe loyalist parties, which reflect loyalist paramilitary thinking.

While the body hopes to present its report to the two governments on Thursday, there was speculation that it could be a day or two late with the report. One Dublin source said that there has been some "slippage" in its timetable, and that the report may not be presented until the weekend.

Mr Hume said he was "very hopeful" that the body would devise a formula: that would break the weapons impasse. "From the beginning I have been very hopeful that the Mitchell commission would break the logjam. I am very impressed by the urgency with which they have addressed their (decommissioning) track", he said.

"I wish the British government would show the same urgency in the track about fixing a date for all-party talks," he added.

After their meeting with the Mitchell commission, a spokesman for the loyalist parties restated their view that the paramilitaries would not disarm ahead of all-party talks. Mr Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party said he was hopeful that the body would resolve the arms deadlock.