Mr DAVID Trimble has told members of his party that they should expect an indication of the timetabling for IRA decommissioning from Gen John de Chastelain by December 10th, it emerged last night.
The expectations of the First Minister-designate were spelt out in a letter sent to all delegates to the Ulster Unionist Council ahead of Saturday's meeting.
In the letter Mr Trimble says that within a week of the first meeting between the general and the IRA interlocutor on December 3rd, "de Chastelain will report on the outcome of these discussions stating whether he is satisfied that decommissioning will occur . . . He sets out the arrangements for the next stage (timing) and indicates when he will report again."
The letter, dated November 24th, does not specify when that all-important second report by the general will be. But in the light of his announced post-dated letter of resignation, and the decision to reconvene the UUC in February, the assumption in unionist circles plainly is that Mr Trimble expects actual decommissioning to be under way by January 31st.
The letter continues: "The next de Chastelain report will indicate whether actual decommissioning has occurred or not. If it has not then Sinn Fein will be deemed to have defaulted. The SDLP will be given the opportunity to proceed in government without Sinn Fein.
"If they refuse, HM government and the Irish Government will immediately cease the operation of the Assembly, the North-South ministerial council, the implementation bodies and the other institutions."
Mr Trimble anticipates that on Friday of this week - the day after the formal transfer of powers and the appointment of the IRA interlocutor - he (the interlocutor) will meet Gen de Chastelain "to discuss the modalities of decommissioning, i.e. quantities, inventories, locations of arms and method of decommissioning."