About 300 delegates are expected to attend the DUP's annual conference in Omagh, Co Tyrone, on Saturday. The conference will debate a range of issues, including security, constitutional affairs, prisoners, agriculture, the economy, women's rights, health and the environment.
There are expected to be stinging attacks on the Ulster Unionist Party, and on the British government for its stance on IRA decommissioning. The keynote address will be delivered by the party leader, the Rev Ian Paisley.
At a press conference in Belfast yesterday, the DUP insisted it was not "chasing disaster" by holding the event in Omagh. It had booked the venue before the bombing and had since contacted local people to see if it was welcome. The answer had been a resounding yes, the party said.
Of the 41 motions before the conference, the one on prisoners calls for the immediate return to prison of all those released under the Belfast Agreement. "They are, in fact, bolstering up terrorism and adding insult to the many thousands of innocent victims slaughtered by the terrorists," the motion states.
The resolution on constitutional affairs has been tabled by the DUP's Assembly members, and it reaffirms its opposition to the agreement. The party remains "unalterably opposed to the unfolding all-Ireland process". It restates its commitment to never placing "the attainment of position before the honouring of electoral commitments and the interests of the Union".
In an apparent reference to the UUP, the motion "deeply regrets the folly of those purporting to support the Union who designed, agreed, advocated, underpinned, sustained and even now attempt to justify their unsound pro-agreement judgment".
On security, the British government is urged to "stop using the RUC as a political football in order to appease IRA/Sinn Fein".
On parades, a resolution supports the Orange Order's stance on Drumcree and calls on the British government to sack "the discredited Parades Commission".