The leader of the Ulster Democratic Party, Mr Gary McMichael, has warned that it is vital in the period running up to the resumption of talks on April 13th that anti-Belfast Agreement elements are not allowed to destabilise the political process.
He accused anti-agreement protesters and anti-agreement parties of trying to "whip up hysteria" in their campaign against the Good Friday agreement. "We must not allow them to exploit the situation to a point where the problem that is still outstanding is more difficult to overcome than when we left it", he said.
Mr McMichael, whose party is linked to the UDA, said he could not say if loyalist paramilitaries could sign up to the proposal whereby, four weeks after ministers were nominated to the executive, the IRA, UVF and UDA would hand over some weapons.
However, the fact that his party, which has no members in the Assembly, was involved in the Hillsborough talks demonstrated the loyalist commitment to ensure that the Belfast Agreement was implemented.
The primary focus of loyalists would be on the attitude of the IRA. "At the moment, there is a huge gap in confidence around the position of the IRA", Mr McMichael said. "When we return to this discussion in two weeks' time, and there is no positive movement on the part of republicanism in order to assist the environment and to build confidence, then I think it is clear there are still going to be huge problems to be overcome."
Mr David Ervine, of the Progressive Unionist Party, said that the PUP was making no comment on yesterday's developments.
