The issue of IRA decommissioning has returned centre stage after the Ulster Unionist Council fixed February 12th as its date to decide whether the Ulster Unionist Party should remain in government with Sinn Fein.
Sir Josias Cunningham, president of the council, said after meeting senior UUP officers yesterday that he was "minded" to call the meeting on February 12th, although he indicated there was little doubt it would go ahead on that date.
A decision on the Patten proposals is expected shortly, possibly this week, from the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson. This could have a bearing on whether the IRA makes some gesture on decommissioning to enable Mr David Trimble to convince his ruling 860-member council that the UUP should remain in the power-sharing government.
As the pressure begins to build up again on the weapons question, the UUP deputy leader in Westminster, Mr John Taylor, warned that the executive would collapse if the IRA did not move on decommissioning.
"If they start decommissioning, then that's great news and, of course, the whole situation would have been transformed, but if they don't, then of course, the whole executive will fail," he said yesterday.
Mr Peter Weir of Union First, the anti-Belfast Agreement UUP pressure group, indicated there would be no let-up in the demand from the No UUP bloc for the "surrender" of IRA weapons.
"Decommissioning must be seen to be done. Public confidence demands that the publicly visible destruction of surrendered weapons happens. We want substance, not action cloaked in shadows. Nothing else will satisfy," he added.
Pressure is also coming from politicians in the moderate camp. The Alliance Party leader, Mr Sean Neeson, yesterday said progress on decommissioning and devolution were "inter-linked" and the IRA must start disarming soon.
In Washington on Wednesday the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said issuing "deadlines or ultimatums" was the wrong way of resolving decommissioning. In New York on Thursday he said Sinn Fein remained committed to the removal of the gun from politics in Northern Ireland, but he would not go into specifics on how that might apply to the IRA.
