The IRA has announced it has cut off contact with the international decommissioning body. The paramilitary group said it had taken the decision to stop engaging with General John de Chastelain's organisation because the British Government had "by its own admission" not kept its commitments under the Belfast Agreement.
In a statement issued through the republican newspaper An Phoblacht, the IRA said it remained "committed to the search for a just and lasting peace".
Blaming the British government for the current political crisis in Northern Ireland, the IRA noted: "Despite this, the British Government says that the responsibility for this present crisis and its resolution lies with us and there is an effort to impose unacceptable and untenable ultimatums on the IRA.
"At the same time the British Government, by its own admission, has not kept its commitments.
"The IRA, therefore, has suspended contact with the IICD.
"The onus is on the British Government and others to create confidence in this process. They can do this by honouring their obligations."
It is not the first time the IRA has broken off contact with General deChastelain's group.
Four days after former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson suspendedthe Stormont Assembly in February 2000, the Provisionals announced they would nolonger co-operate with the IICD.
But a month after Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble agreed to re-enterpower-sharing government with Sinn Fein in May 2000, arms inspectors CyrilRamaphosa and Martti Ahtisaari revealed they had been taken to IRA dumps.
Since then the IRA has undertaken two historic acts of decommissioning - inOctober 2001 and then again in April this year.
A spokesman for the IICD tonight refused to comment on the latest move by theparamilitary organisation.
PA