The International Independent Commission on Decommissioning, led by General John de Chastelain, has said it has witnessed the IRA begin to decommission its arsenal of weapons, including guns, ammunition and explosives.
"We are satisfied the arms in question have been dealt with in accordance with the scheme and regulations. We are also satisfied it would not further the process of putting all arms beyond use were we to provide further details of this event."
"We will continue our contact with the IRA representative in the pursuit of our mandate." This afteroon the IRA said in a statement that it had begun the process.
In a statement the IRA said its motivation behind the move on weapons was "to save the peace process".
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The statement, signed P O'Neill says: "The political process is now on the point of collapse. Such a collapse would certainly, and eventually, put the overall peace process in jeopardy.
"There is a responsibility upon everyone seriously committed to a just peace to do our best to avoid this.
"Therefore, in order to save the peace process, we have implemented the scheme agreed with the IICD in August.
"Our motivation is clear. This unprecedented move is to save the peace process and to persuade others of our genuine intentions".
In August the IICD said in a statement it had agreed a method for putting arms "completely and verifiably beyond use". Details of the method were not made public however.
The move comes in response to a call yesterday by the Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams for a "ground-breaking" gesture to save the peace process.
Speaking in West Belfast last night Mr Adams said: "We have put to the IRA the view that if it could make a ground-breaking move on the arms issue that this could save the peace process from collapse and transform the situation".
Sinn Féin this evening welcomed the IRA statement saying it was a courageous initiative to save the peace process".
- 650 AK47/AKM assault rifles;
- 36 Armalite AR-15 assault rifles;
- 2 Barret M82A1 sniper rifles;
- 60 Webley .455 revolvers;
- 20 12.7 x 107mm DshK heavy machine guns;
- 12 7.62mm FN MAG machine guns;
- 6 LPO-50 flamethrowers;
- 40 RPG-7 rocket launchers;
- 1 SAM-7 surface-to-air missile;
- 600 bomb detonators;
- 3 tons of Semtex plastic explosives
