The pace of developments in the peace process will shift up a gear today with the expected release of an IRA statement and the return of Senator George Mitchell to Stormont. Parties were advised to be on standby for a possible plenary session tonight which would be the last meeting in the current review.
The IRA statement may come as early as this morning, sources said. It will be brief, announcing that an interlocutor is being appointed to deal with the decommissioning body and expressing broad support for the Sinn Fein leadership's political approach.
Contrary to suggestions that Mr Martin McGuinness would step down once the IRA interlocutor was appointed, sources said the Mid-Ulster MP would remain as Sinn Fein's representative in discussions with Gen de Chastelain. The identity of the IRA appointee will not be revealed, for reasons of personal security, talks insiders said.
The review is expected to conclude tomorrow, with Senator Mitchell delivering his final report. However, if the executive collapsed in the new year over decommissioning, the Assembly could be closed down with the parties going into review again.
Officers of the Ulster Unionist Party are due to meet at 7.30 p.m. tomorrow and are expected to convene a meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council, the party's governing body, in the Ulster Hall, Belfast, for November 27th, where the current package will be debated by delegates.
Should the 860-strong council approve the party leader's approach, a meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly is likely to be convened before the end of the month where ministers would be nominated in accordance with the d'Hondt system of proportionality. The first meeting of the new executive would probably be on December 8th.
As speculation continued about the position of Mr John Taylor, it emerged that the UUP deputy leader had left on Monday for Tehran as part of the first British parliamentary delegation to visit Iran since the fall of the Shah. He will return tomorrow or Friday, sources said.
The improved relationship between the UUP and Sinn Fein was reflected in a near-simultaneous release of statements from their respective party leaders yesterday morning.
Mr Trimble indicated he would support the establishment of the executive, once the IRA's decision to appoint an interlocutor had been announced. Mr Adams said Sinn Fein accepted that decommissioning was "an essential part of the peace process".
While both statements were generally considered extremely conciliatory, it is understood Mr Trimble rejected suggestions from Sinn Fein that, as a gesture to nationalists, he should acknowledge the failings of 50 years of Stormont rule. He had previously expressed such sentiments in his Nobel Peace Prize speech in Oslo last December.