The IRA has accused the Ulster Unionist Party of setting preconditions and departing from the terms of the Belfast Agreement. It nonetheless has confirmed in a statement that it will appoint a representative to deal with Gen. John de Chastelain's decommissioning body.
A senior IRA source told selected journalists yesterday that earlier this month it decided to liase with the decommissioning body after the Belfast Agreement institutions were established. It was persuaded to do this "on the basis that it would enhance the peace process".
The source, however, was critical of the decision by the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, to reconvene a meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council in February. Mr Trimble has signalled that if decommissioning does not begin by then his party will withdraw from the Executive and he will resign as First Minister.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, yesterday played down the ominous tone of the statement, however, saying on RTE: "The position is that it is not at all bad. The IRA obviously didn't know anything about the three-month position, so that will have been both a surprise and a concern."
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, had shown "some annoyance over that at the weekend", Mr Ahern said, but he added that it was time to "move on with the de Chastelain work".
The DUP responded to the statement by saying it was further proof that the IRA had no intention of decommissioning. The Ulster Unionist Party, however, in an unusually relaxed reaction, said it was satisfied that the IRA was "on track" to deal with the disarmament question.
The scheduling of the February meeting of the council was also effectively interpreted by the Sinn Fein leaders, Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness, as a new precondition that was outside the terms of the Mitchell review compromise.
The IRA figure said the IRA agreed to appoint an interlocutor to the decommissioning body on the "clear understanding that the announcement and appointment would be part of a series of events which would move the political process beyond the impasse in which it has been stuck for the past 18 months.
"The subsequent setting of preconditions for future progress towards the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement by David Trimble was not part of this context and in our view represents a clear departure from the terms of the Mitchell review," the source added.
"The IRA will take its own counsel on the implications of this development," he said. "As agreed by the IRA leadership the appointment of a representative to meet the International Independent Commission on Decommissioning will go ahead."
It was stressed that these comments were coming from "a senior IRA source" and did not represent an official IRA statement.
Despite the IRA criticism and the potentially ominous comment that the IRA would "take its own counsel" on the implications of the reconvened meeting, the UUP was sanguine in its reaction.
Its security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, said: "The Ulster Unionist Party remains satisfied that the IRA is on track to begin to fulfil its obligations on disarmament by appointing a representative to liase with the de Chastelain commission."
Mr Maginnis also defended Mr Trimble's decision to recall the Ulster Unionist Council in February.
"It is the prerogative of the UUP leader to deal with the dayto-day functioning of his party as he considers best meets the expectation of the membership. Obviously all our expectations are predicated on the basis that others will honourably meet their declared obligations," he said.
Mr Billy Hutchinson, of the Progressive Unionist Party, who liases with Gen. de Chastelain on behalf of the UVF, said Mr Trimble "did what he had to do" to get the go-ahead from the UUC allowing the Executive to be established. He said it was "positive" that the IRA was proceeding with appointing a representative to the decommissioning body.
A spokesman for Mr Adams said that the Sinn Fein president would be making no comment on the IRA statement.
