Ken Maginnis has said that he does not believe that the IRA is preparing to decommission some of its weapons. He was responding to a Sunday Tribune report that the organisation is telling its members that what it calls tactical decommissioning will take place. He was speaking as George Mitchell returned to Stormont to continue his efforts to broker a deal that would see power being devolved and the arms issue being settled.
There is still no clear sign that the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Féin have settled their dispute on the issues of devolution or the disposal of paramilitary weapons. Speaking this morning the Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble cautioned against over-optimism.
