Parties which subscribed to the Mitchell principles on democracy and non-violence without accepting the need for decommissioning in parallel with the Stormont talks would be seen as engaging in "empty rhetoric", the SDLP said yesterday.
The chief SDLP negotiator on decommissioning, Mr Sean Farren, told a party meeting at Ballycastle, Co Antrim, that the Irish and British governments had indicated the practical steps necessary for making progress with this "crucial confidence-building measure".
"All of the parties, but particularly those with influence over paramilitaries, will be able to influence the implementation of these proposals."
Progress would have to be made in other areas, including the treatment of prisoners, information on missing persons, a review of emergency legislation and day-to-day policing. "Failure to advance confidence-building measures will only produce a further logjam and frustrate the growing expectations that parallel progress can be made on the political agenda."
It was "fundamental and now widely accepted" that an overall settlement must take account of both nationalist and unionist aspirations. There has been an angry reaction from the Alliance Party to comments made on the issue of consent by the Ulster Unionist Party MP, Mr Ken Maginnis, in his BBC Newsnight debate this week with Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness.
In a statement, the Alliance chairwoman, Ms Eileen Bell, said: "I think it is rich that the UUP, after consistently berating the Alliance Party for its participation in the Dublin Forum, are now taking up and using the Forum report and the issue of consent as an alternative precondition to talks entry."