THE SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, described his meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, at Downing Street yesterday evening as "positive" and hoped the IRA would soon declare a complete end to violence.
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster last night, Mr Hume said the agreement between the two governments on decommissioning appeared to follow the International Commission Report.
He said it was an expert body and its proposals were based on that expertise, which was that disarmament questions should be settled to the satisfaction of all sides but done parallel to the overall talks process. "That appears to be what is being proposed and that seems to be a very common-sense proposal," Mr Hume said.
"If all parties are going to agree to that, it is common sense that the beneficiaries of that will be all of the people of Northern Ireland, because I hope it would lead to a total end to violence and then to us all getting together.
"The difficult task will be to reach an agreement. But if that task is carried out in a peaceful atmosphere with all parties there, I would hope that the regular contact that those talks would provide would start building the trust. It would help us very much in the difficult task of reaching an agreement," he said.
"I think also, given the enormous tensions that there are around at the minute because of the marching situation, that a total end to violence would improve the atmosphere enormously and I hope the IRA will now respond positively and announce that they are laying down their arms for good.
"The bottom line in this whole process throughout and from the very beginning is that the ultimate objective is an agreement among our divided people that has to have the allegiance of both our traditions and that, obviously, is the basis of stability and threatens no section of our people.
"Also, any agreement reached will be put to the people for their endorsement. So there is nobody engaged in any process which is going to impose a solution on any section of our community."