A Chronology of the North's Assembly:
April 10th, 1998: Signing of Belfast Agreement.
May 22nd, 1998: Agreement endorsed in referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic.
June 25th, 1998: Elections held for 108 members of the Assembly
July 1st, 1998: Assembly meets for first time in shadow form. Mr David Trimble is elected First Minister, and Mr Seamus Mallon, Deputy First Minister.
September 14th, 1998: Mr Trimble and Mr Mallon postpone forming the Executive due to disagreements over decommissioning.
February 16th, 1999: Functions of the 10 departments are agreed by the Assembly.
July 15th, 1999: UUP and DUP refuse to nominate ministers because of the unresolved decommissioning issue. Mr Mallon announces his resignation.
Northern Secretary Dr Mo Mowlam adjourns the Assembly.
September 6th, 1999: Senator George Mitchell presides over a review of the Assembly.
November 29th, 1999: Assembly appoints 10 ministers after being recalled by Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson.
December 2nd, 1999: The British-Irish Agreement comes into force and power devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly and its Executive Committee. The North/South Ministerial Council, North/South Implementation bodies, British-Irish Council and British-Irish Inter-governmental Conference all become fully functioning institutions.
The IRA announces it has appointed a representative to enter into discussions with the International Independent Commission on Decommissioning.
December 13th, 1999: The Inaugural meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council.
February 12th, 2000: The Assembly is suspended by Mr Mandelson after Mr Trimble threatens to resign.
May 6th, 2000: Ulster Unionists agree to re-enter the Assembly after negotiations at Hillsborough apparently secure republican commitments on decommissioning. Mr Cyril Ramaphosa and Mr Marti Ahtisaari are appointed inspect arms dumps.
June 5th, 2000: First meeting of the re-established Assembly.
November 2000: Mr Trimble refuses to nominate Sinn FΘin ministers Ms Barbara De Br·n and Mr Martin McGuinness for meetings of the North/South Ministerial Council because of a lack of progress on decommissioning.
July 1st, 2001: First Minister resigns. The Assembly will collapse within six weeks if a successor is not appointed.
August 10th, 2001: Northern Secretary Dr John Reid suspends devolution for 24 hours, after which it is restored for six weeks.
October 3rd, 2001: Ulster Unionists, with the support of the Progressive Unionist Party, table an Assembly exclusion motion against Sinn Fein.
October 8th, 2001: Exclusion motions against Sinn Fein are moved by the DUP and the UUP. Both fail without SDLP support.
October 18th, 2001: Ulster Unionist and Democratic Unionist ministers resign.