PARTY delegations will return to Stormont today to begin a further round of political talks facing formidable new handicaps which threaten the future of the process.
Pre Christmas hopes of some movement towards agreement on the decommissioning issue have been dashed by the IRA's developing campaign of violence, including the latest attack in the village of Tempo, Co Fermanagh at the weekend.
Further division will be generated at the talks when the unionist parties challenge the participation of the loyalist fringe parties, the UDP and PUP, on the basis that they no longer adhere to the Mitchell principles.
Meanwhile, as the security situation continues to deteriorate, the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, confirmed yesterday that plans for a structural review of the force and substantial cuts in police manpower have been shelved indefinitely.
The latest attack attributed to the IRA came at 7 p.m. on Saturday night when two improvised mortars were fired from a van which had been left outside Tempo RUC station. One penetrated the roof of the unmanned building and the other landed in the station yard, but both failed to explode.
A senior RUC officer said the entire village had been put at risk by the attack, as these weapons were notoriously inaccurate and unstable. A group of children had been attending Irish dancing classes in a hall a few yards from the RUC station.
The attack, which was condemned by local SDLP and unionist representatives, will further diminish the prospect of progress towards an accord on decommissioning at this week's bilateral discussions at Stormont.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, and the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, had a further meeting on Friday to discuss the current difficulties. Afterwards they said they remained determined to secure a peace settlement.
Mr Adams, in a statement last night, said the participants in the Stormont talks knew that the process in which they were engaged lacked credibility.
The Stormont multi party talks now appear to be facing their most difficult phase since they began last June. The deputy leader of the SDLP, Mr Seamus Mallon, speaking on Saturday, asked if the two governments could "afford to remain indefinitely in a talks situation which is not showing the will or the commitment to solve this problem".
Mr Mallon said that since the talks began a number of parties had set out to ensure that they would not work. He was questioning the viability of continuing with the process "unless the motive force within that process is given and created by the two governments."
He added: "They are the people with the power of authority, the power of decision and the resources to ensure that a solution is created. They cannot remain passive in circumstances where that is not happening."
Mr Mallon also asserted that only when Sinn Fein was involved in a negotiating context would it be possible to assess whether the republican movement was serious about decommissioning and about a complete end to violence, "and if their threat of violence is a tactical threat, or if a ceasefire, the termination of violence, is for real. That's the only time that we will know for certain, so let's get to the position quickly where we can find that out".
Meanwhile, the RUC Chief Constable has warned of the gravity of the security situation and has said there is no question now of police numbers being reduced.
Mr Flanagan said that the fundamental review of policing carried out last year had been designed to determine the nature and style of policing service that would be appropriate in an environment free from terrorist threat.
"We are clearly not now in an environment free from terrorist threat", he added.