Crisis as IRA breaks links with arms body

The IRA sent a tremor coursing through the Irish peace process last night by announcing it was suspending contact with the international body which deals with paramilitary arms decommissioning.

The move was seen as a metaphorical shot across the bows of both the Government and the Ulster Unionist Party, both of which have recently toughened their positions to demand IRA disbandment. Although the move is largely symbolic, it is a strong rebuff to Tony Blair's recent call for the IRA to go out of business.

He argued that Unionists would not go back into the Belfast power-sharing executive, which is presently in suspended animation, while the IRA is still active. In reply, the IRA claimed the Government was in breach of its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and that Unionist leaders had "set their faces against political change".

The move will be seen as a hardening of republican attitudes. At the same time the IRA asserted that its ceasefire remained intact and the organisation was still committed to "the search for a just and lasting peace".

The statement confirms that Mr Blair can expect no encouraging response to his call for the IRA to cease activities, which the Government believes include political espionage, training, and continuing recruitment.

The IRA stance smacks of venting the anger said to have been generated in the republican grass roots by the calls for IRA disbandment. But at the same time there is no sense of doors being slammed or of republicans walking away from the peace process.

As if to emphasise this point, the Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness are due to meet Paul Murphy, the newly appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, this afternoon. Mr McGuinness said they would be asking the British and Irish governments to call urgent meetings involving all political parties. He emphasised the issue of policing, saying the Government should fulfil commitments it had made.

As an expression of anger the IRA move appears to be at the lower end of the scale. The organisation said it was suspending, rather than severing, contacts with the International Commission, the body headed by General John de Chastelain which deals with arms decommissioning. The IRA broke off contact in 2000 following a previous suspension of the Assembly but restored it not long afterwards.