Sir, - Decommissioning conditions set down in the Mitchell Report have not been met; Sinn Fein boasts that not a single bullet will be surrendered until a settlement is reached, and the wording of the IRA ceasefire leaves the door open for the IRA to choose once again the violent option, if any eventual settlement does not bundle a million Protestants on the road to a United Ireland. Mo Mowlan's attempt to interpret the wording of the IRA's statement as a sign of a permanent arms-down condition is an insult to the intelligence of Northern Protestants, whose leaders, understandably, now fear that the Munich mindset of both governments would influence any settlement, to the advantage of Sinn Fein.
The Unionist leaders, however, should not walk away from the talks proceedings in disgust. This is precisely what the IRA wants. Mr Trimble wishes to gauge the wishes of the Unionist people: if my experience has any meaning at all, the Unionist people in huge numbers want their political leaders to face up to and out-think Sinn Fein at the table. They might be surprised to find support amongst the SDLP. The more intellectually and honestly that the Unionists fight their case, the more difficult it will be for the IRA to get international sympathy for a resumption of murder, if Sinn Fein, their plain-clothes soldiers, don't have their way. - Yours, etc.,
SAM McAUGHTRY,
Comber, Co Down.