AS British officials at the Northern Ireland Office and in London began a detailed assessment, of the latest Sinn Fein suggestions on disarmament, conflicting views were expressed yesterday on the prospects of a breakthrough.
The NIO Minister for Political Development, Mr Michael Ancram, said he had read "with interest" what had been said and published Mr Gary McMichael, of the loyalist fringe party, the UDP, described the Sinn Fein suggestion as "realistic" but the UUP MP Mr Ken Maginnis retracted his early welcome for the proposals.
Mr Ancram conceded that the Sinn Fein concept that paramilitary groups might agree to dispose of the weapons they held themselves, with the supervision of an agreed independent third party, could be part of the process which the International Body on Decommissioning was set up to achieve.
He said As you know, we've made it clear all along and indeed we put a paper to Sinn Fein in May of last year that what we re looking for is weapons to be taken out of commission permanently and verifiably.
"I think it is important that we allow the international body now to make its own assessment within the remit it has been given. I reiterate that what they have been asked to do is to look at, not only whether there is a commitment to taking these arms out of commission permanently but also to look for a way which is acceptable and verifiable."
In a U turn from his initial reaction the previous evening, Mr Ken Maginnis yesterday said that the message from Sinn Fein was unacceptable, unworkable and unattainable.
His statement was issued by UUP headquarters on official UUP notepaper leading to speculation that his change of view followed internal party consultations.
He said "While Ulster unionists were happy to welcome earlier indications from Dublin that Sinn Fein/IRA had altered its position on the decommissioning of its illegal weapons, it is now becoming clear that nothing has changed."
The Sinn Fein message, which he interpreted as being that disarmament would take place only after a political agreement, was totally unacceptable. Sinn Fein had rejected the principle of consent, based on accepted democratic tenets, he said.
"The main issue is not the means by which illegal arms will be destroyed it remains the principle, articulated by President Clinton, that "violence has no place at the table of democracy and no role in the future of this land," Mr Maginnis said. He, added that, in the initial reports he had received, he had not been told about "the qualification that nothing would happen until there was a political settlement".
Mr McMichael welcomed the Sinn Fein suggestion. He also suggested that loyalist paramilitary representatives should be allowed to oversee and verify the destruction of IRA arms and vice versa.
However, he said, the challenge ahead was how a stage could be reached where decommissioning would become a reality.
That depended on political movement "It depends upon successful, rational debate within negotiations to create the trust and confidence to make it happen. It is only by engaging in a means of negotiation that we are going to be able to build any trust."
The crucial test of the Sinn Fein suggestions is seen to concern the timing of an arms disposal process in relation to an inclusive talks process aimed at achieving a comprehensive political settlement.