The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, has claimed that Gen John de Chastelain's commission will perpetrate a "colossal fraud" when called upon to verify any act of IRA decommissioning.
Speaking yesterday after meeting with the commission chairman in east Belfast, Dr Paisley predicted a decommissioning event would be carried out by the IRA in the form of a "bomb in a bog" which would later be confirmed by forensic examination.
He added that the commission's progress report for the two governments would be delayed until after Gen de Chastelain's meeting with the newly-appointed delegation of UFF interlocutors, which is expected to take place today.
"There will be an explosion which we will be told is the destruction of many weapons. No one will be able to ascertain that, he will give a report to the government and that report will probably never be published anyway and as a result of that they will say: `You got what you wanted'."
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said there would be no way for the public to know what had occurred. "It is clear that the decommissioning body is even contemplating that they might not be there when such an explosion would take place; that they might be brought to the location after the event.
"They might see it at a great distance. They might have to use their best forensic resources to make a determination of what was destroyed. All of that is totally unsatisfactory."
Meanwhile in Derry, the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, spoke of the new challenges facing the people of Northern Ireland on the path to peace. Speaking at an SDLP Waterside branch, he said the main challenges would be in education, business, transport and employment.
"Now that peace is achieved, and now that we have a government to which everyone can give allegiance, we can build a country that we can share and be proud of, where people can achieve their dreams and aspirations. We now have a country where difference is not just accepted but celebrated."