IRA to make new arms statement

The IRA is poised to make a fresh statement about its disarmament plans, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, has indicated.

Mr McGuinness said the IRA was very close to answering Tony Blair's challenge earlier this week that it make an unequivocal commitment to abandon paramilitary activity and disarm. An IRA statement within the next 24 hours is essential if Dublin and London are to salvage the peace process in time for next month's Northern Ireland assembly elections.

Speaking in a BBC interview yesterday, Mr McGuinness hinted the IRA would address Mr Blair's concerns that their last position statement, handed to the British, Irish and US governments a fortnight ago, was too oblique.

"I don't believe people will have to wait very much longer for the sense of what the IRA were prepared to do to be made public," he said. "The situation that we find ourselves in at the moment is coming to a head and it will be time, very shortly, for everybody to make their position clear."

His remarks come as a critical deadline looms in the stalled peace talks. The Northern Ireland assembly is due to be formally dissolved at midnight tonight, in order to allow a fresh set of elections to be held on 29 May.

If the talks fail to produce a breakthrough, hopes of self-rule in Northern Ireland being successfully restored will be dashed, rendering next month's elections meaningless.

Staging the elections at a later date would require further legislation in Westminster. The assembly has been suspended since October, after the IRA was accused of spying on ministers.

Further comments by Mr McGuinness suggested that the IRA might simply publish their statement from a fortnight ago and enlarge on it, rather than issuing a fresh document. "The IRA statement is clear and unambiguous," Mr McGuinness said. "I think when people are appraised of the content of what was in the statement they can make their own judgement." But he added that delaying the elections would be disastrous.

On Friday, the absence of a move by the Republicans fuelled doubts that the poll would take place. Despite this, London, Dublin and US negotiators have been staging private talks this weekend in a final attempt to salvage the peace process. Paul Murphy, the Northern Ireland Secretary, is to meet his Irish counterpart, Brian Cowen, tomorrow to discuss progress.

Yesterday, Mark Durkan, the leader of the SDLP, attacked the "intransigence" of republican and unionist parties. He said: "The recalcitrant ... elements of republicanism and unionism ... must not be allowed to stand in the way of the democratic process."