Sinn Fein has accused Mr David Trimble of dishonouring his pledge of office as the North's First Minister and acting in breach of the Belfast Agreement. And the party has been supported in its line on decommissioning by the UK Unionist leader, Mr Bob McCartney.
Sinn Fein was responding to Mr Trimble's announcement of a fresh round of multi-party talks to move the political process forward. It was an effective acknowledgment that the Saturday deadline on taking the first steps to setting up the new executive and cross-Border bodies would not be met because of the decommissioning impasse.
The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said that all the work since the signing of the agreement was being placed in jeopardy. He claimed Mr Trimble had broken the agreement.
"Perhaps the difficulty is caused because Mr Trimble is confused between his separate responsibilities as First Minister designate and the leader of the Unionist Party," he said.
"When he pronounces as leader of the Unionist Party that he will continue to behave in an obdurate and discriminatory manner concerning the civil rights of a significant section of the nationalist electorate, he must be aware that such behaviour is incompatible with the pledge of office."
Mr McLaughlin said the Belfast Agreement clearly stated that Sinn Fein had an automatic right to places on the executive and the all-Ireland council.
"That right stems from the electorate, from the mandate we received at the election. Neither Mr Trimble nor anyone else can deprive Sinn Fein and its electorate of what we are entitled to.
"Furthermore you cannot decide, nor do you have the right, to exclude Sinn Fein from the executive. There are no preconditions contained in the agreement. All the institutions outlined in the agreement are interlinked and interdependent.
"If there is no executive, then there is no Assembly. It's as simple and straightforward as that."
Mr McLaughlin said the vast majority of Irish people had voted for the agreement. "Their wishes cannot be set aside because of internal difficulties in your party, Mr Trimble. Those difficulties you have to overcome."
If the parties failed to agree, then the onus was on the two governments to implement the agreement, the Sinn Fein chairman said.
"We do not accept that the deadline of 31st (October) should be let slip by. We are six months on from when the agreement was signed. There is no excuse for further delay."
Mr Gerry Kelly of Sinn Fein accused Mr Trimble of wanting to exclude the party from the executive "because he knows he cannot bully and intimidate us. He hopes that if he succeeds in excluding Sinn Fein from the executive it will conform to a more unionist agenda.
"One reason nationalists didn't particularly want an assembly was because of the track record of past unionist administrations - their obsession with retaining all power themselves. True to form, the Ulster Unionists are proving that the leopard does not change its spots."
Mr McCartney laid the blame for the decommissioning impasse on Mr Trimble. He expressed admiration for the skills of Sinn Fein negotiators who "ran rings around the First Minister and his party".
In the agreement, Sinn Fein had achieved the dismantling of the security system, the reform of the RUC and the release of "serial murderers to the streets" without having to sign up to decommissioning.
Although he vehemently opposed Sinn Fein's politics, he agreed with its interpretation of the agreement that no arms had to be handed over before the executive was set up.
The Alliance leader, Mr Sean Neeson, said that as large numbers of paramilitary prisoners were being released in the North, it was time gestures were made "by those who hold the guns and weapons".
He proposed that an all-party Assembly committee be set up to deal with decommissioning. He also called on the Provisional IRA to inform the families of the disappeared where the bodies were located.
Mr Neeson was highly critical of anti-agreement Assembly members. They were "political parasites" who enjoyed hefty pay cheques and the ambience of Stormont Castle, yet "attacked and stabbed in the back" those trying to make the Assembly succeed.
Ms Jane Morrice of the Women's Coalition expressed sadness that the October 31st deadline would not be met.
The entire community wanted to see the fruits of the agreement and the executive formed as soon as possible. "We cannot, we must not, let them down," she said. "The people of Northern Ireland deserve good government."