Trimble says UUP will tell voters it will not rejoin Executive unless IRAgives more information.
The IRA's decommissioning this week in front of Gen John de Chastelain was "a significant event", rebel Ulster Unionist MP, Mr David Burnside, declared yesterday.
The surprisingly welcoming remarks from Mr Burnside came after the Ulster Unionist Leader, Mr David Trimble, briefed UUP Assembly election candidates, Westminster MPs and MEP, Mr Jim Nicholson.
Mr Burnside, who has been a thorn in the side of Mr Trimble and who is currently without the party whip, said: "Obviously it was a substantial act of decommissioning. There is no doubt about that.
"We should recognise that. It is progress and it is movement in the right direction. (But) I want to know when is the end of decommissioning, when will activities like Colombia, Castlereagh and Florida come to an end," he said.
Despite the controversies that have erupted since Tuesday's Hillsborough gathering, the Ulster Unionists insisted they are ready to fight the Assembly elections due to take place in late November.
However, Mr Trimble deliberately dampened expectations that a resolution to the latest crisis can be found quickly. "There doesn't appear to be (one).
"They have still the opportunity of making good the mistake that was made by preventing de Chastelain and giving the inventory and putting in place the timescale [for the decommissioning of the rest of the IRA's arsenal].
"I am not that optimistic, but the opportunity is still there," said Mr Trimble, who has scheduled a meeting of the Ulster Unionist Executive Council to take place next Wednesday.
The UUP will tell voters, he said, that it would not rejoin an Executive after the election unless the IRA gives more information. "As things stand, I cannot recommend that my party returns to government," he said.
The downbeat assessment offered by Mr Trimble is clearly an effort to increase pressure on Sinn Féin, which still remains off-balance following the UUP leader's unhappiness with the original de Chastelain statement.
In an article in the Belfast Telegraph last evening, the UUP leader wrote: "I had the chance to push the Republican movement away from its violent ideology and I took it. I make no apology."
He said he had insisted on seeing a fully transparent list of weaponry destroyed from Gen de Chastelain because of "past disappointments". "When the Republican movement came up short, I put the process on hold." Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Adams' speech on Tuesday was "a significant advance". "Sinn Féin's commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means of resolving differences is welcome, but we all know from past experience that it is the actions of the IRA that count.
"The pity is that the IRA has not been open and honest in its dealings. Not telling the truth sometimes can be as damaging as telling a lie," Mr Trimble said. So far, the IRA has honoured decommissioning promises made in May 2000, he said.
Meanwhile, the UUP election campaign has got off to a poor start following the decision of three party candidates to withdraw from the ticket: Cllr Bob Stoker (West Belfast); Mr Ivor Whitten (Newry & Armagh) and Mr Willliam Lannock (Foyle).
All three put their decision down to work pressures, but one senior party official told the Belfast Telegraph: "In some cases they don't think that they have a hope of winning the election." Encouraging his organisation to get out on the campaign hustings, Mr Trimble said the world would "understand and respect" a Unionism "that stretches itself to reach a decent and honourable peace2".
"Unionism cannot afford a low turnout on November 26th. It has been our Achilles heel in the past. This time anyone with a stake in future prosperity . . . must get out and vote," he declared.
