Unionists—those who favor the continued "union" of the six counties of Northern Ireland with the United Kingdom—have been stalling on convening the Northern Ireland executive by demanding that the IRA "decommission" its weapons first.

In a statement issued November 17, the IRA announced that it backed Sinn Fein's leadership in the past several years of its negotiations with the British government, and announced that it would appoint a representative to discuss with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning. Sinn Fein also issued a statement, indicating it believes that any IRA "decommissioning can only come about on a voluntary basis."

Since the IRA statement, UUP leader David Trimble, the first minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, has indicated he can no longer stall the process of political change, after a year of refusing to convene an executive that includes Sinn Fein. The new assembly was established following an agreement signed between the British and Irish governments and a range of political parties in Northern Ireland, in the face of the British forces' failure to break the resistance of the Irish nationalists to British rule.

Trimble is seeking to win the Ulster Unionist Council, his party's leading body, to accept that the new government executive, including Sinn Fein, will be established on December 3. Trimble's decision registers the failure of the campaign to browbeat the IRA into surrendering its arms as a precondition for Sinn Fein to be allowed into the executive. The British government and its backers have been unable to force the surrender of weapons from those they have not defeated, and they cannot prevent the continuing struggle against the caste-like oppression of the Catholic population in the north.

The staunchly pro-British Belfast Telegraph welcomed Trimble's decision to back off, arguing that "instant decommissioning [of IRA weapons] is not practical." The decision was also heralded by U.S. president William Clinton and British prime minister Anthony Blair.

It has led to deepening divisions amongst Unionist forces in the north of Ireland, however. UUP member of Parliament Jeffrey Donaldson slammed Trimble's decision, saying that the IRA statement had "no timetable, no declaration that the war is over, absolutely no guarantee that decommissioning will ever happen. It doesn't give anything like the commitment Unionists need."

Peter Mandelson, the British secretary of state for Northern Ireland, has joined Trimble in trying to pressure the UUP into accepting the proposals, insisting they have no alternative.

The British government hopes that the establishment of the executive will stabilize its rule in Northern Ireland and to head off recent advances in the struggle for Irish unity and independence. It hopes that the new institutions can be used to weaken Irish republicans and press them into giving up their weapons.

Mandelson has promised Unionists that the new executive will be closed if there is no IRA decommissioning, but he has not established a legally binding deadline for when that would take place.

Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, opposed Mandelson's threat to collapse the new executive if there is no decommissioning. "The default scenario presented by the British government is clearly outside the terms of the Agreement," McGuinness said. "Sinn Fein is opposed to any such mechanism."

In reference to Trimble's failure to establish the executive following the election of the assembly, McGuinness noted, "For 18 months the... Agreement was in default and no sanctions were imposed."

In further attempts to bolster their claims about the necessity of IRA decommissioning, British police have announced a "security alert" and put more cops on the city streets, following claims of alleged republican terrorist attacks on British cities.  
 
 
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