Pressure on IRA to disarm as riots threaten process

BEHIND the scenes pressure was mounting on the IRA to finally deliver on decommissioning last night as loyalist rioters again threatened to plunge the North into chaos.

US special envoy to Northern Ireland Mitchell Reiss said he was hopeful of an historic republican move to put weapons beyond use "within weeks".

He was speaking after a meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern which was overshadowed by the eruption of loyalist violence and the fear it could derail the fragile peace process.