Northern Ireland's largest loyalist paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Defence Association, has announced that it will recognise and accept the authority of future Sinn Féin ministers following Assembly elections.
The UDA, which also includes the Ulster Freedom Fighters, also confirmed it has decided to accept the legitimacy of Sinn Féin's electoral mandate. The decisions, which have been described as "ground-breaking, historic and unprecedented" by the UDA's political advisers, the Ulster Political Research Group, were taken at a meeting in Derry's Guildhall.
Among those at the meeting were the UDA's five brigade commanders as well as members of the UDA's inner council.
"We deliberately selected the Guildhall in Londonderry for two reasons.
"The Guildhall is the lion's den of republicans for loyalists and Londonderry is the city where the Troubles started in 1968, so let it be where the troubles have come to an end," said UPRG executive member David Nicholl.