The peace process hung in the balance early today as the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister led an intensive effort to convince the Ulster Unionists to accept Sinn Fein's good faith on the decommissioning issue.
Talks were held at 2 a.m. involving Mr Blair, Mr Ahern, Mr David Trimble and Mr Seamus Mallon. "Negotiations are continuing and a deal is still possible," Government sources said.While the report of General John de Chastelain on the decommissioning issue had been delivered to the two governments there was some doubt as to whether it would be given any wider circulation.
Its release was said to be "conditional to some extent" on agreement being secured with the Ulster Unionists. If the deal fell through there would be an official reluctance to reveal how far Sinn Fein had been persuaded to go on the arms issue, under specified conditions, lest it jeopardise future peace efforts.
The hope of the two governments was said to be that the general's assessment of the decommissioning issue in his long-awaited report would persuade the UUP to agree the immediate formation of an executive, including Sinn Fein ministers, in the expectation that arms disposal would begin by the end of the year.
Advance indications of the report's contents said the general would give it as his opinion that, in the context of full implementation of the Belfast Agreement, Sinn Fein would be in a much stronger position to persuade the IRA to begin decommissioning by the end of the year. The leadership of the IRA was said to be comfortable with Sinn Fein's stance., since it was firmly bedded in the terms of the agreement.
As the talks continued late into the night early into the morning it was understood that a suspension of the Agreement and an immediate review of its provisions would take place if the unionists were not happy that promises on decommissioning were being fulfilled.
Mr Trimble was reported to have come up with a counter-proposal for the two governments which was thought to envisaged no time-gap between executive formation and decommissioning. Nationalist sources claimed he was "playing for time".
The UUP Assembly team met at Castle Buildings and it was reported that Mr Blair had offered to address them. Sinn Fein spokesmen refused to comment on a report that Mr Blair had also asked that the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, also address the unionists. There was no indication that they were prepared to accept the offer.
Earlier, Mr Trimble said he had no concrete proposals from Sinn Fein. While he had seen press reports that the IRA might give an undertaking to a decommissioning timetable, Mr Trimble said: "No such precise undertaking has been offered to us, nor have we seen any details about timetable or schedule."
Mr Trimble said suggestions that an executive could be formed with decommissioning starting in three to six months was "simply not in the real world at all". There was a need for "concrete confidence-building measures" in the same timeframe as the formation of the executive. He said: "It is necessary that confidence be created and that confidence has not been created by republicans."
Immediately beforehand, Mr Adams declared: "What people in the building have to decide is whether they want this process to collapse; whether in particular they want to hand the initiative, which is still the best opportunity for peace this century, back to those who are against change."
Asked if Sinn Fein had changed its position during the day, Mr Adams replied simply: "Yes." The extent of the shift in Sinn Fein's position emerged during a series of discussions with the Taoiseach and his officials over the last two days. The detailed wording of the Sinn Fein decommissioning position was drawn up during several meetings between Mr Ahern and senior Sinn Fein figures as well as countless contacts between Irish officials and the party's representatives.
According to some SDLP sources, speaking privately, Sinn Fein had the UUP "on the hop" because, they claimed, the republicans had held out the possibility of a start to IRA decommissioning by the end of the year provided there was immediate formation of an inclusive executive. Instead of accepting this offer, Mr Trimble was isolating himself by insisting on weapons being destroyed right away. President Clinton spoke to Mr Blair earlier by telephone and this was said to be the initial step in intensive US involvement. "The White House was waiting for the moment when they could be of maximum assistance before getting involved," senior political sources told The Irish Times.