Agreement on decommissioning still possible - Mandelson

The Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Mandelson, has said that it is still possible for agreement to be reached on how to achieve decommissioning and lasting devolution. Mr Mandelson, speaking in Belfast on the second anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, said that disarmament was essential to the peace process but it was a matter for the parties to decide on how it should be achieved. The Northern Secretary said he hoped within the next two weeks to see agreement on how the institutions can be put back in place and agreement on the decommissioning issue.

The Sinn Fein negotiator Gerry Kelly has said he could not see why the Northern Secretary Peter Mandelson was being so optimistic about the peace process. Mr Kelly called for the reinstatement of the political institutions in the North, saying it was the best way of achieving political progress.

The DUP Assemblyman, Nigel Dodds, has insisted that any deal short of actual IRA disarmament would not be acceptable to Unionists. He said at Stormont: "I think that Peter Mandelson may speak at the weekend or this morning about what he hopes will happen and needs to happen. "But the reality is unless there is the actual handover of IRA weaponry, then I don't think David Trimble can get away with trying to sell a deal in relation to setting up an Executive. "I think it is time that Peter Mandelson had a dose of reality, rather than indulging in wishful thinking or in fantasy land."

Mr Dodds said that the second anniversary of the Agreement was not worth celebrating, as it had allowed terrorist prisoners to be released back onto the streets, it had seen the RUC effectively disbanded and there had been no movement on IRA arms.

But the SDLP leader John Hume said that the sense of gloom at the non-implementation of the Agreement must be set aside. He was speaking after a meeting lasting over an hour with the Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and his party. Mr Hume urged all pro-Agreement politicians to do everything in their power to see through the successful implementation of the accord. The Foyle MP described the talks as detailed and constructive and said they had explored a number of ideas on how to advance the political process. Mr Hume said that his message to those who had supported the accord that it was the duty of the pro-Agreement parties to implement their will. The SDLP leader, flanked by party colleagues, said that he hoped there would be a meeting soon with the British and Irish governments to find a way forward.

The Fine Gael leader, John Bruton, has called on the IRA and other paramilitary organisations to sign up publicly to the Mitchell principles on which the Good Friday agreement is based. In a speech in Navan, he said if this was done, a basis would then exist to restart the Executive and the other institutions without prior decommissioning.