Trimble: Republicans must be open on arms

It will be “essential” for republicans to stick “very clearly” to their commitment to peaceful means in the run-up to the Northern Ireland elections if the peace process is to get back on track, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble warned today.

Mr Trimble said it would also be “highly desirable” for republicans to engage with the International Commission on Decommissioning to restore transparency to the process.

Last week the peace process stumbled when Mr Trimble put on hold a series of pre-planned moves to bolster the Good Friday Agreement because of concerns over the IRA’s third act of decommissioning.

Unionists had wanted more detail about putting IRA weapons beyond use.

At question time, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy said: “We sincerely hope that after the elections conditions will be created that permit a working executive to be formed and all aspects of the joint declaration to be taken forward.”

The British and Irish governments had vowed last night to launch a fresh bid to resurrect the peace process after the Assembly elections on November 26.

But Mr Trimble warned: “If the sequence which it was necessary for me to put on hold last Tuesday is, at any point in the future, to be resumed and carried through, it would be essential that through the next few weeks during the election campaign that republicans should abide very clearly by the commitments to peaceful means that they made at that stage.

“It is also highly desirable that republicans should engage with the International Commission on Decommissioning to repair the mistakes that were made on transparency and to agree the necessary timetable for completion of decommissioning.”

Mr Murphy said that the latest statement from the president of Sinn Féin had been “an improvement” on decommissioning efforts in the spring.

“The engagement of the IRA with the International Commission on Decommissioning was an important and significant development,” he told MPs.

“Where I know you are concerned is about the issue of transparency and indeed the issue of public confidence, and I do hope that those issues will be addressed in the weeks ahead and that we move forward.”