Ulster Unionists will not participate in an Assembly executive with Sinn Fein unless the IRA fully decommissions its weaponry, the 900 members of the Ulster Unionist Council have been told in a letter from the party leader, Mr David Trimble.
The four-page letter outlines the Ulster Unionist position on the setting up of Assembly departments, the North-South bodies and the British Isles council.
In it, Mr Trimble refers to the "disastrous policies" of the Parades Commission over the Drumcree march and expresses concern about possible proposals in the Patten report on the future of the RUC.
Mr Trimble says his party has fulfilled all its obligations under the Belfast Agreement. "If republicans do not honour their commitments, they will not be admitted to the Assembly executive. We remain steadfast by our election manifesto not to sit in government with `unreconstructed terrorists'," he writes.
On the negotiations with the SDLP on government departments and cross-Border bodies, Mr Trimble says the party had succeeded in keeping the North-South dimension to six bodies with "minimalist" functions and totally accountable to the Assembly. It had resisted demands from the Dublin Government, the SDLP and Sinn Fein for a powerful overriding North-South structure dealing with all-island economic development.
Meanwhile, it emerged at the weekend that at least two of the 28-member UUP Assembly party grouping may vote against this week's motion to approve the outline for the North's future government. Several unionist dissidents have also spoken out against the motion.
Mr William Ross, the MP for East Londonderry, told UUP members in Dungiven, Co Derry, on Saturday that most people in Northern Ireland did not fully understand the implications of accepting the motion.
"I believe that voting for this motion can at best simply delay Ulster's death sentence for one more month. Plainly such a course of action is a most dangerous path to tread, as everyone knows that neither Tony Blair nor Mo Mowlam will ever take the necessary steps to expel any SF/IRA minister once he is in office," he said.
Meanwhile, the UUP has appointed three high-ranking members to a commission which will examine the party's links with the Orange Order. The commission will consist of Mr Josias Cunningham, Mr David Brewster and Mr James Cooper. Mr Cunningham and Mr Brewster are members of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland.