The North's Deputy First Minister, Mr Mark Durkan, has warned that unionist "soap opera" politics is threatening political stability as senior Ulster Unionist officers meet today to decide on a date for another Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) meeting.
The meeting of party officers is also expected to allow party hardliners Mr Jeffrey Donaldson and Mr David Burnside to contest the next Assembly elections scheduled for May, overturning a general ban on Ulster Unionists holding dual Assembly and Westminster seats.
The assertion by assistant police chief constable Mr Alan McQuillan that the IRA, along with the UVF, was involved in orchestrating violence at the east Belfast interface, will also feature in the Ulster Unionist discussions.
Mr Donaldson accused Sinn Féin of playing "fast and loose" with the peace process and said the party had nothing to fear from calling a council meeting.
But Mr Durkan warned that yet another UUC gathering would not only threaten the political institutions but further exacerbate divisions within the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). Mr Durkan, leader of the SDLP, urged Ulster Unionists to avail of a Belfast Agreement implementation group to try to resolve political concerns rather than resorting to another damaging UUC meeting.
Whatever difficulties Ulster Unionists had about Sinn Féin's participation in the Executive could be thrashed out at meetings of the implementation group designed to examine how the agreement was operating, he suggested.
Mr Durkan also said that pro-agreement politicians could put opponents of the deal on the back foot by agreeing before next May's Assembly elections on a date for a formal review of the Good Friday accord.
He said he could understand unionist concerns over issues such as Colombia, Castlereagh and the continuing sectarian trouble, "but the Belfast Agreement is not causing those problems," he said.
He accused those who were calling the UUC meeting of being more interested in creating political uncertainty. "We can't afford these constant soap operas, these serial cliffhangers where David Trimble teeters on the brink and we all share in the drama," said Mr Durkan. The officer board of the Ulster Unionist Party meets near Enniskillen this afternoon to decide on a date for the UUC meeting.
The most likely date at this stage, according to party sources, is September 21st.
Ulster Unionist anti-agreement MPs Mr Burnside and Mr Donaldson are also expected to be given the go-ahead to contest the Assembly elections at the officer board meeting.
Mr Peter Weir, a former Ulster Unionist MLA who defected to the DUP, said Mr Trimble was desperate to have the two men on the election team in order to present "the façade of a united party and to appeal to at least some anti-agreement voters".
"Sadly by putting their names forward they are playing into his hands," said Mr Weir.
Ulster Unionist pro-agreement MLA Dr Esmond Birnie warned against further unionist in-fighting. "Unionists should be thinking about how to bolster the total unionist vote and how best to rise to the challenge posed by the rising Sinn Féin vote," he said.
"This is the real political war rather than waging a bitter and self-destructive civil war within our own party," added Dr Birnie.
