All paramilitary groups should disarm and stand down their private armies as part of the fulfilment of the Belfast Agreement, Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble insisted today.
The former Northern Ireland First Minister noted that in a weekend speech by Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams the West Belfast MP "never said never" about the eventual standing down of the IRA.
But he insisted that republicans and loyalists would have to complete the abandonment of violence and embrace peaceful and democratic means.
"The Agreement set out very clearly the objective of the complete disarmament of all paramilitary groups and people committed themselves and had obligations towards that," Mr Trimble said.
"The Agreement also makes absolute the commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means and that means no private armies.
"The Agreement does not say explicitly that there must be abolition of private armies but that is clearly the meaning of the Agreement."
Mr Trimble would not be drawn on how the IRA and loyalists should stand down their paramilitary organisations.
Insisting total disarmament and the abolition of private armies was one of the objectives of Belfast Agreement, he said people had to wait and see how this was done.
"I am not going in to how and when it should be done," the Upper Bann MP said.
"Clearly we will have to wait and see how that is achieved and we will know when we see it."
On Saturday, MrAdams told a conference of his party's elected representatives from Northern Ireland and the Republic that the IRA would not disband in response to "ultimatums from the British government or David Trimble".
PA