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Assembly Tantalisingly Close ; Paisley Expected to Face Huge Pressure to Enter into Full Negotiations

Posted on: Monday, 26 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

The prospects of a cross-party power-sharing Executive at Stormont headed by the DUP leader Ian Paisley and a senior Sinn Fein figure will move a step closer today when it is formally confirmed that all IRA weapons have finally been put beyond use. Mr Paisley and his hardline party colleagues will be subjected to enormous pressure to enter full political negotiations with the Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams as a result of this ground-breaking development. The DUP leader and his party have always made it clear they were in favour of a devolved administration in Belfast but would only enter into political talks with republicans when decommissioning was completed. He will now, undoubtedly, be challenged by the British government and other influential figures to honour that stance. Retired Canadian General John de Chastelain will this morning brief the Irish and British governments on the historic news that republican decommissioning has been completed before speaking to the international media at a press conference in Belfast this afternoon. At the news conference General de Chastelain is expected to be flanked by the two clergymen who witnessed the decommissioning - Fr Alex Reid the West Belfast priest who helped broker the 1994 IRA ceasefire and former Methodist church President Rev Harold Good

. Within a matter of days the DUP will be pushed hard by the British government to move into meaningful talks with Sinn Fein for the restoration of the suspended Stormont Assembly early in the New Year. Tough talking between the two extremes of Ulster politics is certain to follow but the expectation is that it will eventually lead to a Stormont administration headed by Mr Paisley as First Minister and Sinn Fein's chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness as Deputy. But unionist reaction to the development - described by Mr McGuinness as potentially more significant than the ceasefire - could hang on the level of detail Gen de Chastelain is permitted by republicans to release. Over the weekend, Mr Paisley who has accused the British government of striking a secret deal with the IRA to exclude the need for an arms witness acceptable to unionists, continued to play hardball on the issue of republican guns. He has said consistently he would not be satisfied with anything less than photographic proof that IRA arms had been put beyond use - a demand republicans said was unrealistic. "Will unionist demands for open, verifiable, photographed and witnessed decommissioning be adhered to or not?" Mr Paisley said. "We have a right to know the truth - the day for deception is over, the day for truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth has come," he added. Northern Secretary Mr Peter Hain said yesterday he believed once unionists knew decommissioning was credible and had been put in place moves could begin towards restoring the 108-seat Assembly and power-sharing Executive. However, Mr Hain who said the people of the North wanted to see the IRA commitment to carry out full decommissioning implemented, emphasised the process had to be credible enough to convince unionists. "People have got to see that there is the biggest dumping of arms and getting rid of the IRA's arsenal than ever before," Mr Hain said. But if the General and his two church witnesses state categorically that all IRA guns have been decommissioned that could be enough to sway the majority of unionists to give peace another chance. The Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said yesterday unionists should take heart from the republican 'u-turn' from their previous position of 'not one bullet not one ounce'. Today's announcement will end weeks of speculation about the timing of the IRA's historic move following the commitment given in its statement of July 26. Tomorrow a Sinn Fein delegation headed by Martin McGuinness will leave for Washington where they will brief the American administration and leading figures within the Irish/American lobby.

Source: Belfast Telegraph

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