The main Protestant political party in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionists, has set February the twelfth as the deadline for deciding whether to continue taking part in the province's new coalition government.

On that day, the party will meet to decide whether the IRA, the military wing of the Republican party, Sinn Fein, has begun giving up, or decommissioning, weapons.

The Ulster Unionists made it clear when they decided to join the coalition last November that they would withdraw if the IRA did not show firm signs of decommissioning.

Their leader, David Trimble, said at the time that he would resign if no progress had been made by February. The retired Canadian general, John de Chastelain, who heads the province's disamament commission, will report this month on his efforts to get the IRA to disarm.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service