Both pro-Trimble and anti-Belfast Agreement Ulster Unionists were last night predicting their respective motions would win the support of a majority of the 900-member Ulster Unionist Council at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast today.
The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, without imposing specific conditions or deadlines, urged the UUC delegates to allow him dictate the strategy for achieving IRA decommissioning, while No unionists insisted there must be a March 1st deadline for total IRA disarmament.
Lagan Valley MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson told The Irish Times yesterday there was still an outside possibility the two sides could agree a compromise motion today although at the time of writing it appeared another confrontation today between the Yes and No wings of Ulster Unionism was inevitable.
A number of Trimble supporters were guardedly optimistic that a majority of the 900 UUC members who are entitled to vote today would back the First Minister's strategy. "Our main concern is that in this Christmas period enough of our supporters won't turn up at the Waterfront," a leading Yes activist said.
Former Young Unionists chairman Dr Philip Weir, who is expected to second the anti-agreement motion seeking to tie the party to a deadline for IRA decommissioning said he was "confident" Mr Trimble would lose the vote today. Mr Trimble's leader-ship would be threatened were that to happen.
The No motion to be proposed by Ulster Unionist honorary secretary Ms Arlene Foster commits Mr Trimble to banning Sinn FΘin Ministers from attending North-South meetings if the IRA does not make a further move on arms by February 1st.
And if there is not complete IRA disarmament by March 1st then it effectively insists that the First Minister and his three ministers withdraw from the Executive.
In contrast, Mr Trimble in his motion insists he will work to achieve IRA decommissioning but that the party must leave the tactics to him. On BBC and UTV last night he indicated that he saw little merit in the notion of a compromise motion from Mr Donaldson.
Mr Trimble said he saw reports of a possible compromise motion but was unaware of any specific proposals being tabled. "I rather feel it is difficult to come forward in that way in such a complex issue at the very last minute," he said.
"People know that my tactics have worked on achieving decommissioning. The key thing about those tactics was not setting deadlines but that I produced surprises. You can't produce surprises if you tell people three months in advance what your tactics are. All you do is give them the opportunity to think of counters," he added.
On UTV and in the Belfast Telegraph Mr Donaldson also made a personal appeal to UUC delegates. He argued that some form of timetable for decommissioning was essential in order to maintain pressure on the IRA.
"We have to keep the pressure on all of the terrorist organisations to ensure that decommissioning is completed, and to make the point that decommissioning is not an open-ended process," he said.
