Sir, - In the event of an end to the current suspension, Ulster unionist participation in the Assembly Executive would require much more than merely answers to the two familiar questions posed by the SDLP deputy leader.
Of course, paramilitary parties must confirm that they will surrender their illegal weaponry and outline exactly when that will occur. However, all Ulster Unionists now recognise the danger of placing trust in those who have repeatedly failed to deliver, and there can be no question of re-entering the institutions of the April 10th, 1998, agreement on the basis of mere promises rather than actual deeds.
The parameters which the Ulster Unionist Party outlined to adjudicate the commitment of paramilitary parties to democratic politics alone must be satisfied. I quote from the UUP Assembly Elections Manifesto Summary from June 1998 on which our representatives were returned:
"The UUP will: make the Assembly work to the advantage of all the people of Northern Ireland; not sit in Government with `unreconstructed terrorists'. Before any terrorist organisation and/or its political wing can hold ministerial office in the Assembly, it must be committed to exclusively peaceful and non-violent means. The UUP will use, amongst others, the following criteria to judge this:
a clear and unequivocal commitment that the `war' is over, and violence ended;
an end to targeting, training, weapons procurement and punishment beatings;
a progressive abandonment and dismantling of paramilitary structures;
full co-operation with the Independent Commission on Decommissioning;
no use of `proxy' organisations for paramilitary structures;
disarmament completed in two years;
the disclosure of the fate of the `disappeared'."
Departure from electoral pledges might be excusable in the event of a sudden, unexpected change in the political environment or the advent of unforeseen circumstances. However, there have been no developments over the past 20 months which were not predictable. A manifesto is a politician's contract with his electorate, and therefore the Ulster Unionist Party can have no role in any reinstated institutions until the aforementioned issues have been resolved. - Yours, etc.,
Philip Weir, Chairman, Ulster Young Unionist Council, Portadown, Co. Armagh.