No return to devolved assembly until IRA disarms, Trimble warns

With crucial peace process talks due tomorrow, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble yesterday demanded "proper, open decommissioning" from the IRA.

He also called for the IRA to declare that its war was over. He warned that the Belfast Assembly would only be restored if republicans came up with major concessions. "The IRA does have to go away," he said.

Tony Blair and the Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, will spend tomorrow at Hillsborough Castle near Belfast in talks with Unionists, Sinn Fein and other Northern Ireland parties.

They are to put to the parties a draft plan which they hope will trigger a major response from the IRA. The two governments are anxious to make significant progress so that fresh assembly elections can be held in May.

The document prepared by London and Dublin is well over 10,000 words long, dealing with issues such as demilitarisation, equality and human rights. The calculation is that the IRA will not move unless outstanding issues such as these are dealt with.

Intensive discussions continued over the weekend both on substantive issues such as policing, and on the question of how to build timetables and a verification mechanism into any new deal.

Mr Blair set the theme for the negotiations several months ago when he spoke of "acts of completion", saying that republicans had reached a fork in the road, and now faced a stark choice between politics and illegal activity.

Unionists want to build in sanctions for use against Sinn Fein if republicans return to government and the IRA is subsequently found to remain active. Sinn Fein wants a timetable for demilitarisation by the security forces, centring on the removal of border watchtowers.

Both London and Dublin sources say they have no precise idea of what exactly the IRA would do if the other issues are cleared up. The logic is that it would be something substantial – perhaps historic.

An IRA move of some magnitude will be required not just to satisfy London and Dublin, but also to convince Unionists that they should go back into government with Sinn Fein. Unionists are pressing for maximum IRA movement to persuade doubters that devolution should be tried again.

Mr Trimble told his party's annual general meeting yesterday: "We want the assembly back but it will not happen unless republicans act. Their act must start with proper, open decommissioning and continue with saying the war is over and ensuring that it will not start again. The IRA does have to go away."

Party hardliner Jeffrey Donaldson said the only way back to devolution was through IRA disbandment.