The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, has said that a statement from the Provisional IRA clarifying its position on decommissioning would help the peace process. He said his party would not sit in government with any party involved in violence.
However, he believed the republican movement was committed to peace. Mr Hume was responding to demands from the Ulster Unionists that the SDLP clarify its position on excluding Sinn Fein from government if the IRA does not decommission.
"I have already made it clear that we would not sit in an executive with any party which is engaged in or threatening violence," he said. "But I now believe that Sinn Fein and the movement to which they belong are totally committed to the peace process and removing the gun."
Mr Hume said an executive should be set up as soon as possible. The Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political wing, also said a statement by the Provisionals on decommissioning would be useful.
Meanwhile, the UUP has said it is not interested in going to Downing Street this week for talks with Mr Tony Blair; there had been speculation that the British Prime Minister would extend an invitation to the Assembly party.
Senior UUP negotiator Sir Reg Empey said any contact with Mr Blair would be through party leader Mr David Trimble. "We will not be tripping off to Downing Street like a class of schoolboys to be told what to do," he said. A UUP executive meeting to debate the document drawn up by the two governments will take place on Friday.
The DUP has accused the UUP of softening its stance on decommissioning. The party's deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said: "The UUP has shifted away from demanding prior decommissioning towards seeking Sinn Fein's exclusion if it does not decommission.
"Make no mistake about it, many in the UUP will cave-in sooner or later - nothing is more certain. A few weeks of pressure, a dose of press and media hype, sustained coercion from government, spin from the usual suspects, supplementary promises from Blair, and a U-turn will be achieved.
"Trimble will be sought out by `the great and the good'. Business and church leaders will be drafted to the chorus line and newspaper editors will spew out their captouching jargon."
Mr Robinson said unionists should know by now that Sinn Fein and the IRA could not be trusted. "My message to the UUP is, `don't be suckers again'. "
The Sinn Fein chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, has accused the UUP of hiding behind the decommissioning issue. "It is obvious to me and it will become increasingly obvious to many people that David Trimble does not want to share power with nationalists and republicans. He is hiding behind the guns issue.
"If the issue of guns was so important, then why did the unionists reject Sinn Fein's proposal last week which was accepted by the two governments?"
Mr McGuinness said unionists were opposed to change. "The British and Irish governments must not be deflected by the unionists' current stance. If they continue to oppose the establishment of the institutions, then all other aspects of the agreement must be implemented."
Sinn Fein yesterday criticised Mr Blair's pledge to enable unionists to form a new executive in the event of Sinn Fein's expulsion after a failure by the IRA to decommission. Assembly member Ms Bairbre de Brun said: "Mr Blair has set out an approach which would clearly breach the Good Friday agreement and be a return to the policy and practice of exclusion."