THE Ulster Unionist deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, has said his party is not seeking any decommissioning by loyalist paramilitaries while Sinn Fein is excluded from the talks process.
In the aftermath of Monday's adjournment of the multi party talks, he stressed yesterday loyalist paramilitaries were not being asked to disarm unilaterally.
Citing paragraph 34 of the Mitchell Report that "parties should consider an approach under which some decommissioning would take place during the process of all party talks" Mr Taylor said the UUP was not seeking total disarmament by either republicans or loyalists during the talks.
"We emphasise that there cannot be any partial decommissioning by loyalist paramilitaries unless there is similar decommissioning at the same time by republican paramilitaries," he said.
"Unionists are not asking for many decommissioning by loyalist paramilitaries while Sinn Fein/IRA are not at the talks.
"Should Sinn Fein arrive at the talks - and that would depend upon many factors, including an IRA ceasefire - then unionists are simply asking for equal decommissioning, or mutual partial decommissioning, by both loyalist and republican paramilitaries not total decommissioning by either or both sides.
"But since obviously the Southern Irish Government is manipulating things to arrange the entry of Sinn Fein/IRA into the all party talks, it is essential that the modalities for mutual and partial decommissioning are agreed in advance and in place. That is all that Ulster Unionists seek at, this time," said Mr Taylor.
Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, Sinn Fein's chairman, accused the unionists of "bad faith" involvement in the talks. They had, "bogged down" the talks for seven weeks.
Mr McLaughlin called on the British and Irish governments to launch a new initiative to reach a negotiated settlement. "There must be comprehensive negotiations which bring about substantive and significant constitutional and political change, demilitarisation and democratic rights," he said.
Meanwhile, the Workers' Party in Northern Ireland has called on the RUC to rigorously enforce incitement to hatred laws following allegations that an independent unionist councillor said that "Catholics should be kept in their ghettos because that is all they are good for."
The councillor alleged to made the comments and to have said that Protestant church leaders were "too busy kissing the feet of Cahal Daly to represent the Protestant community", was not available for comment yesterday. But he told The Irish News the alleged comments were not made by him and that he had no recollection of them being made.
