The support of David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party is vital if a peace deal to end 30 years of sectarian and political violence in Northern Ireland is to stand any chance of getting off the ground.

The UUP's ruling council is set to decide on Saturday whether it will back the plan that foresees the establishment of a devolved government for Northern Ireland on December 2.

Under the plan, the Irish Republican Army guerrilla group is expected to announce on the same day that it has appointed a go-between to discuss handing in its arsenal of guns and explosives.

The Financial Times said Trimble would tell the UUP council that he will pull out of the power-sharing Northern Ireland government unless the IRA starts to disarm by January 31.

Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Mandelson, made clear earlier this week that he would suspend the Northern Ireland government if any side defaulted on its commitments.

Trimble faces a tough task in convincing many in his party that they should support a deal that allows Sinn Fein into the Northern Ireland government before its IRA allies have started to disarm.

LETTER SENT

The Financial Times said senior UUP figures had written to all 860 delegates expected to attend Saturday's meeting urging them to oppose the deal brokered by former U.S. senator George Mitchell in 11 weeks of talks between the parties.

In Dublin on Wednesday Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams reaffirmed his party's commitment to the peace process and assured fellow republicans there had been no secret deals.

"There is no hidden agenda and this party's public position is also its private position," he said in his first address to his party since the end of Mitchell's review of the peace process, concluded last week.

"Let me assure you all that there is no secret deal," he told 100 party members gathered at a Dublin hotel.

"Our immediate goal is to forge a partnership with unionism that will see us labor together with the new institutions and govern in fairness and in honesty, with justice and equality," Adams said.

On the issue of decommissioning of guerrilla weapons built up during the struggle against British rule, Adams said this would be addressed by the independent disarmament commission, headed by Canadian General John de Chastelain.

In a setback to peace hopes, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, one of Northern Ireland's staunchest pro-British guerrilla groups, said on Wednesday it was putting off naming a go-between to talk to disarmament monitors.

The UFF, one of the two biggest Protestant guerrilla groups in the province, said its stance reflected worries about the IRA's commitment to disarmament.

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