Patience running out over arms

The government is planning to set a deadline for loyalists to begin handing over their arms. If they do not, the body overseeing decommissioning will cease to exist. BBC NI home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney reports.

General John de Chastelain and his two fellow commission members, Tauno Nieminen and Andrew Sens, started work in September 1997.

Loyalists are to be set a deadline for decomissioning

Their task was far from simple - to decommission the vast numbers of weapons held by the IRA and loyalist paramilitary groups.

In their first press conference, the general announced that the "modalities" for decommissioning would soon be in place, and that the commission would then wait for the paramilitaries to bring forward their weapons.

All that was needed, he said, was the political will to do so.

The big prize was the IRA's huge arsenal, but there was little sign that the organisation was willing to part with its weapons.

"Not a bullet, not an ounce" was the mantra, and many believed the commission and the British and Irish governments were chasing an impossible goal.

But then in September 2005, the Canadian general made an historic announcement.

He revealed that the commissioners had spent a number of weeks with IRA representatives decommissioning a large number of weapons, which they were satisfied "represents the totality of the IRA's arsenal".

The commission then turned its attention to the main loyalist paramilitary groups.

The Loyalist Volunteer Force decommissioned a small number of guns in 1998, but the UDA and UVF have not followed suit.

Costs of arms body 1997-1998 - �856,512 1998-1999 - �1,069,670 1999-2000 - �1,207,200 2000-2001 - �1,403,628 2001-2002 - �1,355,946 2002 - 2003 - �619,2000 2003-2004 - �553,458 2004-2005 - �751,756 2005-2006 - �564,586 2006-2007 - �600,000 Total cost: �8, 981,956

When announcing that it was disbanding last year, the UVF said all its weapons had been "put beyond reach". That means the organisation has retained control of the weapons and it shows no signs of giving them up.

Nor does the UDA. When asked about the issue last year Jackie McDonald, the man regarded as the organisation's leader, said decommissioning was not even on the radar screen.

The UDA has met the commission since then, but there is no prospect of an imminent start to the process.

General de Chastelain and his team have been in Belfast again this week and it's believed they will meet representatives of the loyalist groups.

John de Chastelain has been overseeing the decommissioning of weapons

But it appears that their days are now numbered - and the cost of those days has been staggering.

Since it started work in 1997, the commission has cost almost �9m, shared by the British and Irish governments. That works out at about �2,000 every day for the past 11 years.

The secretary of state has signalled that patience is running out. He warned that the commission will not be around forever, and said the legal routes available will end at some stage in the future.

Shaun Woodward was not telling the whole story.

Behind the scenes, the government is planning to effectively set a deadline of less than two years for the UDA and UVF to begin the process of decommissioning their weapons.

The government renews the legislation that allows the commission to operate each February for a 12-month period.

Setting a deadline for decommissioning is a huge gamble for the government - paramilitaries do not respond to such tactics

I understand that this February will be the last time it's renewed - unless the UDA and UVF begin to decommission their weapons during that time.

If they don't, the international commission will cease to exist and the loyalist groups will be treated as criminal organisations.

There will no longer be an amnesty for storing or moving weapons for the purposes of decommissioning, and any weapons found after that point will be forensically tested and could be used as evidence in future court cases.

That means the loyalist groups have until February 2010 to begin a verifiable process of decommissioning.

Setting a deadline for decommissioning is a huge gamble for the government.

It knows from experience that paramilitaries do not respond to such tactics. But the government clearly feels it has reached the stage where it has no choice.

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