DUP reaction: DUP leader Ian Paisley yesterday accused the British and Irish governments of duplicity and said Gen John de Chastelain had failed to provide numerical detail to support his claims that the IRA had fully decommissioned.
He also said the two independent witnesses from the Catholic and Protestant communities were in effect "appointees of the IRA".
"Today was the day when the gun was finally to be taken out of Irish politics, according to the IRA and many in the media," he began.
"This afternoon the people of Northern Ireland watched a programme which illustrates more than ever the duplicity and dishonesty of the two governments and the IRA. Instead of openness there was the cunning tactics of a cover-up and a complete failure from Gen John de Chastelain to deal with the numerics of decommissioning."
He claimed it was not known how many guns, how much ammunition and explosives were decommissioned nor how the decommissioning was carried out.
"The IICD could only say to the people of Northern Ireland that the proof that all the guns and material of the IRA were decommissioned was in an assurance given to them by the IRA," he added.
"The IICD message was to trust the IRA as the IRA had indicated all weapons had been decommissioned. The witnesses can only testify that the general [ de Chastelain] was correct in his report and the general has already declared that his report was based on IRA assurances.
Mr Paisley said the independent witnesses "were clearly under the control of the general and were not given any opportunity to comment during the press conference". He continued: "In fact they had no extra detail to add to the proceedings. It must be clearly stated that both witnesses were approved by the IRA and therefore were accepted by the IRA and could be in no way independent."
He also said the British government was guilty of bad faith. "The fact remains that the promise made by the prime minister that decommissioning must be transparent and verifiable and must satisfy everyone was broken. There were no photographs, no detailed inventory and no detail of the destruction of these arms. To describe today's act as being transparent would be the falsehood of this century."
He warned: "The people of Ulster are not going to be forced by IRA/Sinn Féin or by the two governments along the pathway of deceitfulness and treachery. Hidden things of darkness are surely coming to light in the extent of the shameful betrayal of truth that will be uncovered. Ulster is not for sale and will not be sold."