'No split on security' - Number 10

Sinn Fein: We're not running away from weapons issue

A Downing Street spokesman has rejected Sinn Fein suggestions that Prime Minister Tony Blair is at odds with Secretary of State Peter Mandelson over the issue of demilitarisation.

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness had made the allegation during a number of interviews in which he said Mr Blair had agreed to dismantle security posts in areas such as south Armagh during talks in May last year.

The spokesman for Number 10 said the prime minister was in favour of further normalisation or dismantling of military observation posts in south Armagh but that progress would depend on the security situation and the guidance of the RUC chief constable.

During a BBC interview on Tuesday, Mr McGuinness, who holds the education portfolio in Northern Ireland's power sharing Executive, indicated there would be a resumption of "serious negotiations" this week or early next week.

Mr McGuinness said his party wanted to put in place a process whereby arms could be put beyond use.

We want to see the British prime minister facing down the securocrats within the establishment both in London and at the NIO (Northern Ireland Office) who have been attempting to derail the peace process

Martin McGuinness
Sinn Fein

Meanwhile, the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party met security minister Adam Ingram for discussions on the policing issue on Tuesday afternoon.

Intensive talks between Sinn Fein and the government broke down before Christmas without agreement when the party's president, Gerry Adams, said the onus was on Tony Blair to move the process forward.

The current impasse is casting a shadow over the future of the Northern Ireland Assembly, which reconvenes next week after its Christmas recess, and the other Good Friday Agreement institutions.

Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Ulster, Mr McGuinness said the party was not running away from the issue of decommissioning.

He described the arms issue as a "very important" part of the Hillsborough talks in May last year.

Sinn Fein would deal with the issue in the context of seeking to establish the context which would lead the armed groups to "face up to the need to put arms beyond use".

"If this is of concern to unionists, we want to sort this out."

He said Mr Blair had signed up to the full implementation of the report by the Independent Commission on Policing headed by Chris Patten during the May 2000 talks.

Martin McGuinness: People rather than soldiers are best defenders of peace process

He said the prime minister had also made promises on the issue of demilitarisation in areas such as south Armagh.

While refusing to be drawn on specifics, he said there had been public assurances by the RUC chief constable to the effect that the Cloghogue army base at Newry would be removed - but this had not happened.

"We want to see the British Government face up to the need to demilitarise not just south Armagh, although that is the worst afflicted area at the moment, but indeed other parts of the six counties.

"We want to see the British prime minister facing down the securocrats within the establishment both in London and at the NIO (Northern Ireland Office) who have been attempting to derail the peace process."

He said the best defenders of the process were the people in areas such as south Armagh rather than the soldiers.

"Those people are more effective than having a million British soldiers on the streets and lanes and roadways of south Armagh."

He said his arguments had been accepted by Mr Blair and by the United States and Irish governments but difficulties still persisted in convincing Peter Mandelson.

"He believes the British Army and the presence of thousands of British soldiers and helicopter flights and army lookout posts and spy posts are the best way to defend the Good Friday Agreement in that area."

He discounted fears that a reduction in security could allow through a dissident republican bomb which could lead to the loss of lives, pointing out that the military presence had not stopped the Omagh bombing in 1998.

On the policing issue, Mr McGuinness said his party's concerns were shared by the SDLP and the Catholic hierarchy.

'Torpedo'

He said Sinn Fein was unlikely to nominate representatives to sit on the Police Board, which is to oversee the reformed service, until issues such as the retention by the secretary of state of the power to refuse an inquiry into a policing issue were resolved.

He said there was a "dire need now for amending legislation to ensure that there is the full new beginning to policing that everyone was promised at the time of the Good Friday Agreement".

On Monday, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson refuted claims that he had given nationalists a deadline over their participation in the Police Board.

But in a warning to nationalists he said it would be terrible if the current dispute sent a "torpedo" through the peace process.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland First Minister and Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble is expected to come under increasing pressure to ensure that the IRA delivers on its commitments on disarmament.

He has placed sanctions on Sinn Fein's two ministers, by excluding them from meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council, over the issue.

Mr Trimble's decision has been challenged in the courts by Martin McGuinness and health minister Bairbre de Brun.

The case began in the High Court in Belfast before Christmas but a decision has been deferred.