The British government has announced plans for new talks with a body that includes loyalist paramilitaries in a bid to stop Northern Ireland plunging into a summer of violence.
Buoyed by his success in negotiating a peaceful marching season last year, Secretary of State Paul Murphy wants to meet political leaders and influential community representatives on all sides in Belfast.
Tensions have been rising on the city's streets since a ceasefire watchdog's damning assessment of paramilitary violence enraged the terror bosses.
The main loyalist organisations have threatened to walk away from peaceline negotiations crucial to fending off the threat of sectarian violence.
Feuding paramilitaries may also launch a new killing spree after a top loyalist was shot dead in east Belfast yesterday. Brian Stewart (34), murdered as he drove to work, was a senior member of the
Loyalist Volunteer Force.
Mr Murphy and his Security Minister Ian Pearson are set to call for meetings with the Loyalist Commission, an umbrella group including churchmen, politicians and paramilitary chiefs, in order to keep the peace. "I want to encourage everyone to make the effort, once again, to
work positively for the benefit of both their own communities and of the wider community," Mr Murphy said.
Those talks will involve both the Loyalist Commission and the Ulster Political Research Group, which advises Northern Ireland's biggest Protestant terror organisation, the Ulster Defence Association.
Government officials insisted they were willing to work with anyone prepared to keep order on the streets. Mr Murphy's predecessor, Dr John Reid, broke new ground when he met with feared terror boss Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair at a church in east Belfast.
Although the notorious marching season was last year freed from rioting, the Secretary of State will want reassurances from loyalists that they are not planning to go back on the rampage.
Senior figures within the UDA, the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando have already warned they could quit crucial negotiations along Belfast's interfaces unless the Independent Monitoring Commission says it was wrong to criticise them.