Sinn Fein plea to unionists

Mitchel McLaughlin: "Bill is a departure from Patten"

Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin has issued a direct appeal to the Ulster Unionists to accept the IRA's recent offer on arms inspection.

If the IRA's committment to put its weapons beyond use is accepted by the UUP it would pave the way for devolution to return to Northern Ireland later in the month and put the peace process back on track.

Mr McLaughlin said it was Sinn Fein's "fervent" hope that the UUP would accept the deal.

But he also warned the entire peace process could be plunged into "grave difficulty" if the initiative was rejected by the Unionists.

The Sinn Fein chairman told a Westminster news conference: "We are making a direct appeal to delegates at the Unionist Council to approach this initiative and this opportunity in a positive way.

"We are appealing to David Trimble not to over-negotiate but to actually make a firm decision to recommend this and table a motion to that effect."

Turning to the publication by the UK government of the bill dealing with reform of the RUC on Tuesday, Mr McLaughlin said it was 'unacceptable".

'RUC by the backdoor'

Mr McLaughlin said the British government seemed to be incorporating the RUC into the new police service proposed by the Patten Commission.

He said: "We are not going to accept the RUC back by the backdoor."

He added that the bill's proposals on the name of the new force, its badge, its accountability and the issue of flags were all departures from Patten.

He said: "The RUC is an unacceptable police force to, and does not and can not attract any support from our community and what is the point of that for the peace process?"

But Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has already said the retention of the name of the RUC is crucial if his party is to sit in a power sharing executive with Sinn Fein.

The RUC will continue to exist until 2001, and the force will be known as the police service until a final decision is made on its title.

Arms inspections soon

Turning to the issue of devolution and the proposed inspection of IRA arms dumps by international observers Mr McLaughlin said he believed inspection would take place "very quickly" following the restoration of devolution.

He added that the concerns of the unionist community on the sincerity of the IRA's proposals would be addressed by the Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in a statement later on Thursday.