A MEETING of the three members of the International Body on Decommissioning in the North, due to take place in Washington last weekend, was cancelled because of the snowstorm which has paralysed the US capital.
Only the former Finnish Prime Minister, Mr Harri Holkeri, managed to reach Washington. He flew from Helsinki to Boston and reached the US capital by train only to find that the two other international body members could not get through the storm.
The chairman, former Senator George Mitchell, and the third member, Gen John de Chastelain of Canada, had planned to fly to Washington but the city airports closed on Saturday.
"That's life," said Mr Holkeri as he prepared to return to Europe. The three men are due to resume meetings with various groups in London, Belfast and Dublin on Thursday.
Senator Mitchell, who has been carrying out teaching assignments in Florida, yesterday denied a report in the New York Times that the three had delayed their return to Ireland because of the recent violence in the North.
"The story is not true, Mr Mitchell said in a brief statement issued through the body's spokesman in Washington, Ms Diane Dewhirst. "These unfortunate incidents did not have any effect on the schedule of the international body."
The New York Times story said the disarmament commission had been due to return to work in Ireland by the end of last week. It quoted an unnamed official in Dublin as saying that the killings of five people in Northern Ireland had "impaired its ability to propose a compromise.
The international body is due to report by mid January to pave the way for all party talks by the end of February.
Mr Holkeri said in Washington that its recommendations on decommissioning would be made "on the basis of very strict margins and the killings in Northern Ireland "have very little to do with our task."
He predicted that the body would make its recommendations on schedule. He would not comment on its progress other than to say "let's hope" it would be successful. "I am not an optimist or a pessimist, I am a pragmatist," he said.
The situation in Northern Ireland was discussed briefly by the Irish Ambassador to Washington, Mr Dermot Gallagher, and President Clinton at a meeting over the New Year, it has been learned. White House officials have also been renewing their contacts with parties in Northern Ireland with a view to helping nudge the parties towards all party talks after the international body makes its report.