If people insist on retaining fully equipped private armies, then that is only explicable on the basis that they intend at some future point to resort to force or the threat of force. He said he believes that the democratic parties have delivered, as far as they can, all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement, but the parties associated with paramilitary organizations have not yet started to keep their side of the bargain. So far, no weapons have been destroyed or handed in by any of the mainstream paramilitary organizations, loyalist or republican. He said there wouldn't be sufficient confidence within the unionist community in an assembly established prior to decommissioning. Nonetheless, he said that, despite the standoff over decommissioning, he remains optimistic.
Former paramilitaries have nowhere else to go.
Their leaders have come to accept that. I view the resolution of the current situation as just a matter of time. He said the Good Friday Agreement went beyond the normal measures included in conflict resolution situations elsewhere in the world. In particular, we arranged for a deliberately inclusive form of administration, based on the principle of proportional representation. The object of this was to offer those who were engaged in violence a better way of doing things.