THE meeting in the Maze yesterday between the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, and loyalist paramilitary prisoners was described as fruitful and constructive.
Mr Trimble said he left the meeting feeling "very strongly" that the prisoners wished to see the loyalist ceasefire sustained. They also wished to see positive development on the political front, he told reporters.
"We feel that they do now desire to see the peace process continuing. They can see the advantage that there is at the moment. They see that the republicans have put themselves into a corner, that the republicans have slammed doors on themselves," he said.
If there was further republican violence it would be a deliberate attempt by the "Sinn Fein/IRA leadership to plunge this land into an appalling situation", Mr Trimble said outside the Maze. "Nobody here wants to see a return to violence."
Among the loyalist prisoners whom Mr Trimble met yesterday were Michael Stone, who killed three people in a sectarian gun and bomb attack at Milltown cemetery during the funeral of the three IRA members killed by the SAS in Gibraltar, and Johnny Adair, who was convicted of directing acts of paramilitary violence.
Mr William Smith, of the PUP, which is linked to the UVF, and who accompanied Mr Trimble at the meeting, said the encounter was "constructive and fruitful".
He added, however, that the loyalist ceasefire was "still living on borrowed time".
Mr Gerry O hEara, Sinn Fein's Northern chairman, accused Mr Trimble of hypocrisy in meeting the loyalist prisoners but refusing to meet Sinn Fein. "It exposes his selective approach to the issue of decommissioning, to the loyalist parties, and to Sinn Fein.
"It is quite clear that unless the two governments provide a proper process of negotiations with everyone invited on the basis of equality, and with no preconditions, David Trimble and the unionist leadership will continue to stand against the creation of a real peace process, Mr O hEara said.
Mr Trimble rejected the allegation of hypocrisy.
Meanwhile, the Alliance Party leader, Lord Alderdice, expressed his willingness yesterday to meet INLA prisoners in the Maze. He was responding to a comment by Mr Willie Gallagher, prisoners spokesman for the Irish Republican Socialist Party, which is the political wing of the INLA.
