The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, is seeking to establish a timescale for the completion of IRA disarmament, in addition to transparency about Tuesday's third act of decommissioning.
This was confirmed last night as Mr Trimble prepared for a potentially difficult meeting this morning with his party's candidates for the November 26th Assembly election.
One pro-agreement unionist candidate previously loyal to Mr Trimble yesterday suggested that as many as 15 of Mr Trimble's running-mates might be prepared to challenge him over the terms of the party's manifesto for next month's poll.
This latest confirmation of disarray in the UUP camp came as the British and Irish governments continued their behind-the-scenes efforts to persuade the IRA to lift the "confidentiality" clause and permit disclosure of the detail of the weapons decommissioned under the supervision of Gen John de Chastelain earlier this week.
And the urgency of that effort was underlined by an indication that Mr Trimble wants to inform his policy-making executive committee of the basis on which he intends to fight the election at its emergency meeting tomorrow in Belfast.
If the IRA fails to satisfy Mr Trimble's terms, it is understood the UUP leader will fight what effectively becomes an election to a fresh negotiation without a commitment to resume power-sharing government with Sinn Féin.
However, The Irish Times has learned that agreement by the IRA to transparency about its decommissioning act might involve the disclosure of more than the incomplete report apparently given by Gen de Chastelain to the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on Tuesday.
Last night a spokesman for Gen de Chastelain's Independent International Commission on Decommissioning confirmed the general and his fellow commissioners would resign if forced to reveal the extent of IRA disarmament without its agreement.
The spokesman said: "With regards to confidentiality, if the commissioners were forced to disclose the inventory without the IRA agreeing to it, they would judge their position to be untenable."
Mr Trimble has confirmed he did not have the specifics of a decommissioning deal pinned down ahead of Tuesday's planned series of statements to coincide with the confirmation of the election date. Acknowledging that he, Mr Blair and Mr Ahern knew a problem remained over the transparency issue, Mr Trimble also made it clear he had not left the matter to "trust" in Sinn Féin or the IRA but had been relying on assurances "that the British government would strongly support us on the issues of timescale and transparency".
Asked if he was raising a fresh pre-condition now for an agreement, Mr Trimble replied: "No. The timescale issue was always there, as it was right from the Belfast Agreement itself with its original timetable for the completion of decommissioning by May 2000." Asked about this, a Downing Street spokesman would only say: "There are contacts going on with the parties and the details of those contacts will remain private for the moment."
Arthur Beesley adds:
As efforts to revive the process continued yesterday, it was believed the IRA had initiated an internal discussion about the response to its decommissioning event on Tuesday.
Informed observers said the crucial objective of a meeting yesterday between Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Trimble was to determine the exact extent of the clarification being sought by Mr Trimble.
The Government was encouraged that Mr Adams and Mr Trimble had not made confrontational statements since the breakdown.
But there was a recognition that progress would have to be made quickly before electioneering began in earnest.
After a long telephone conversation on Wednesday night between Mr Ahern and Mr Adams, the Government continued its contact yesterday with the British government and with the decommissioning body.
But Mr Ahern was downbeat yesterday, telling journalists he was "not too sure" that renewed progress was possible.