Unionists sceptical about the IRA's intention to hand over weapons were last night encouraged by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Burke, to "take a leap of faith". He urged them to enter into talks with Sinn Fein to help create a momentum towards paramilitary decommissioning.
Mr Burke made his appeal at Stormont where he and the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, formally signed a British-Irish agreement to establish an Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.
Dr Mowlam, echoing his comments, said the only way trust and confidence on all contentious issues could be developed was through politicians working and talking together to find some form of accommodation.
The two governments said the new body will be operational when substantive talks start on September 15th. However, they have yet to appoint a chairman to the new body and there were suggestions from Mr Burke and Dr Mowlam that the responsibilities of the current talks chairmen may have to be re-juggled.
Initial unionist reaction was unimpressed. The Democratic Unionist Party rejected the new body out of hand while the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) claimed the decommissioning issue had been "totally mishandled".
Mr Reg Empey, a senior member of the UUP talks team, said his party had been pressing for such a body for 10 months and now the two governments were "scratching around" for a chairman.
"In real terms, this body won't be operational until Christmas. All we have got from the British government on this issue is bad faith all the way through," he added. Mr Empey said, however, that the UUP was still engaging in its consultation process as to whether to enter talks with Sinn Fein on September 15th and that no decision has yet been taken.
Both governments accept that Gen John de Chastelain would capably fill the role as chairman of the international body, but there is concern that his additional responsibilities of chairing the Strand Two North-South talks, and the business committee of the talks, might prove too taxing.
Mr Burke said the two governments were consulting with the US, Canadian and Finnish governments with a view to their allowing other senior personnel involve themselves in the talks.
The proposed body's function is described in the British-Irish agreement as facilitating the handing over of paramilitary weapons, although it does not detail how this would be done.
Dr Mowlam said that a "number of options would be worked out as to how the decommissioning body will work". It would be for the body itself to determine how it would operate, she added.
Dr Mowlam acknowledged that the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries have so far insisted disarmament will only happen when a settlement is agreed but said the new independent disarmament body might create the "dynamic" for decommissioning.
She said that the IRA or loyalist paramilitaries could not be forced to hand over their weapons but that "hopefully as the dynamism builds there is a chance that will happen".
"It needs a leap of faith on all sides," Mr Burke said. "We are giving it the best push that we can. Now it needs some support from all parties around the table."
Dr Mowlam, who met senior RUC and British army officers yesterday to discuss the IRA ceasefire, said that she will decide tomorrow whether she accepted the veracity of the ceasefire.
Mr Burke said he was "satisfied that the letter and the spirit of the ceasefire is being kept".
