The North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, is to consult senior party colleagues at the weekend on the issue of a face-to-face bilateral meeting with the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, a spokesman for Mr Trimble said last night.
Informed observers in the North now regard a Trimble-Adams meeting as a virtual certainty, expecting it to take place early next week, probably on Tuesday. The appointment of Mr Martin McGuinness as Sinn Fein's official representative to the decommissioning body is thought to have removed the last obstacle to such a meeting.
Privately, however, unionist sources said they were "furious" with senior officials in London who were allegedly putting out the misleading message that a Trimble-Adams meeting was definitely going ahead.
"It's all Downing Street," unionist sources said, adding that London had been informed there would have to be discussions within the party leadership and that no unionist had told Downing Street a Trimble-Adams meeting was certain. "I can't rule anything out or in," a senior unionist told The Irish Times. Other sources however, quoted unionist contacts to the effect that the meeting was now definitely taking place. Already the two men are due to attend a round-table meeting with other party representatives - apart from the Democratic Unionists who are staying away - at noon on Monday. But this encounter is being overshadowed by the possibility of a smaller meeting on Tuesday, attended by Mr Trimble, Mr Adams and possibly the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon.
In a statement yesterday welcoming the appointment of Mr McGuinness as Sinn Fein's representative to the decommissioning commission, Mr Trimble hinted at the prospect of forthright faceto-face discussions in the future.
Describing Mr McGuinness's appointment as a "sensible move in the right direction which is long overdue", Mr Trimble said: "We shall now see by their actions whether they are sincere about ending violence for good. Disarmament is part of the Agreement and it must be carried out in full."
In a potentially significant passage of his statement, Mr Trimble said: "In the Assembly and in the consultations starting next week, I, as First Minister, will be pressing the leadership of Sinn Fein to take the next necessary step of actual decommissioning."
The Sinn Fein move was also welcomed in a statement by the decommissioning body itself: "We consider Sinn Fein's action a very positive step and look forward to working with Mr McGuinness on the decommissioning issue as part of the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement."
The statement added that in recent meetings with various parties, including Sinn Fein, the chairman, Gen John de Chastelain had "stressed the readiness of the Commission to carry out the decommissioning process within the time-frame set forth in the Good Friday Agreement".
Announcing Mr McGuinness's appointment, Mr Adams said that, in keeping with the terms of the Agreement, Sinn Fein was "committed to working constructively and in good faith with the international commission".
Mr David Ervine, spokesman for the Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the UVF paramilitaries, said: "As far as I am concerned if the IRA war is over, then the loyalist war is over."
In a separate development, Pastor Kenny McClinton, who had been appointed to liaise between the Loyalist Volunteer Force - which has announced a ceasefire - and the decommissioning body has resigned from the position. He accused the Northern Secretary, Dr Mowlam, of failing to respond positively to the LVF.
President Clinton, on the eve of his departure for Belfast, welcomed the announcement that Martin McGuinness would oversee decommissioning issues for Sinn Fein and said: "It is an important step".