- The Observer, Sunday September 28 2003
The Ulster Unionist leader expected John de Chastelain's International Decommissioning Body to publish a record of what IRA weapons were put beyond use. Until now the Canadian general has not given details about the the guns, explosives and ammunition that the IRA has decommissioned.
After a week in which Trimble held several meetings with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, Northern Ireland's former First Minister said: 'This time any act of decommissioning has to be credible in the public's eye. We told this to General de Chastelain and now I expect there to be physical evidence published. This time around it has to be more than words.'
There were 10 days left for a political breakthrough, otherwise elections would probably be postponed until early spring. The target for early elections was still 13 November, Trimble said.
The UUP chief described his meetings with Gerry Adams as 'pleasant' - an indication of the thaw that has developed between the two party leaders.
An Irish government source told The Observer that, while there was widespread expectation of an IRA statement declaring that its 'war' was over, 'nothing is guaranteed, nothing is signed and sealed'.
'There is an expectation that the atmospherics between republicans and the Ulster Unionists is right. But we won't hold our breath until real things start happening,' the senior source in Dublin said last night.
Any announcement of Assembly elections may be synchronised with an IRA move, the Irish source added.
There is considerable opposition to any initiative in parts of Tyrone and Armagh. Sinn Fein leaders, including Martin McGuinness, returned to Tyrone last week to try to cool tempers among republican activists.
