THE parties to the Stormont talks were asked to submit proposals on decommissioning by last Wednesday. The DUP and Mr Robert McCartney's UK Unionist Party were the first to do so. The Ulster Unionist Party proposals were formally submitted last Thursday and are expected to be circulated to the other parties today.
Unionist sources last night said this would confirm the convergence of all three parties around two key principles:
. that the terms for any new IRA ceasefire cannot be divorced from the issue of decommissioning.
. that a ceasefire intended to be "complete and permanent" would rule out any link between decommissioning and progress in political negotiations.
These arguments are set out in uncompromising terms in the preamble to the UK Unionist Party's submission. It says "a declaration by Sinn Fein for themselves and the IRA that any ceasefire is complete in its nature and permanent in its duration has significant implications." It defines those implications in the following terms:
"1. Such a declaration would remove the need for the retention of weapons or explosives as a means of obtaining political goals.
"2. The failure to declare a ceasefire to be both complete and permanent necessarily suggests a reservation that some circumstances might justify a resort to violence.
"3. Such a declaration, if sincere, necessarily implies that armaments held by paramilitary organisations will not be used again and removes objections in principle to their being made available (at least in part) for destruction prior to Sinn Fein's entry into substantive negotiation.
"4. A complete and permanent ceasefire also removes, in principle, any requirement for weaponry to be handed over in exchange for perceived political progress by those in possession of it. Any such progress can only be the product of democratic procedures.
"5. Any such declaration made by Sinn Fein/IRA would require immediate reciprocation by the PUP and UDP for themselves and the CLMC."
The party says events since the collapse of the first ceasefire have "virtually extinguished any credence" which can be given to republicans, and outlines what it terms "the minimum requirements" for Sinn Fein's entry to talks.
Noting that it is for the Northern Ireland Secretary to invite parties to participate, and assurances from the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, about the reality of the terms required, the UKUP paper warns: "Both governments must face the reality that, unless Sinn Fein/IRA conform to the accepted principles upon which dialogue can proceed among democrats, the participation of the pro Union parties may be forfeited."
The party's "minimum requirements" stipulate a declaration by the relevant parties "of a cessation of violence that is complete in that it encompasses violence of any kind against any one, and permanent in its duration". Thereafter the party proposes:
. "That any such declaration be accompanied by a handing over of a credible quantity of weapons and explosives as a demonstration of the maker's good faith that the cessation is both complete and permanent."
. A declaration by the relevant party both for itself and the organisation it is said to front of its public subscription to the six Mitchell principles.
. An acceptance by the relevant party that the democratic process of negotiations can in no way be related to or made dependents upon, any process of decommissioning, and that decommissioning will progress to completion whether or not a political agreement acceptable to that party or its related organisation is achieved.
. Acceptance of Sinn Fein's entry into substantive negotiations will not take place until both governments have enacted all enabling legislation and put in place all necessary regulations for the practical processing of decommissioning.
The DUP proposals incorporate the substance of all of these, adding "universal" to the description of a ceasefire required also to be "complete" and "permanent". It asserts that: "Holding a stockpile of illegal weaponry constitutes an actual or implied threat that recourse to violence will result from a refusal to accept proposals submitted by the possessors of illegal weaponry.
However, the DUP exceeds Mr McCartney's demands, saying: "IRA/Sinn Fein, if otherwise entitled to join the talks process, must decommission its illegal weaponry according to the programme of decommissioning before entering the talks process.
"A failure on the part of any group holding illegal weaponry to undertake or honour its commitment to the programme of decommissioning shall, with immediate effect, result in such a group being excluded from the talks process.
The final passage of the DUP submission then asserts that such a "failure" as described above "shall, with immediate effect, be met by an all out, determined and robust drive by the security forces in the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic."