LATER this week Mo Mowlam, Northern Ireland Secretary, will make an announcement on the IRA ceasefire. In other words she will be deciding whether it still exists. She will also have to define just what a ceasefire actually is.

True, the IRA has not murdered any policemen or soldiers since it was announced, nor has it been responsible for any bomb atrocities.

But there is strong evidence that its thugs have continued to murder alleged informers and knee-capped and severely beaten countless others who have been suspected of breaking its self imposed laws.

IRA "courts" tend to favour a guilty until proven innocent approach to "justice."

Miss Mowlam has to decide whether or not such actions can be ignored in the struggle to bring a lasting peace to the long-suffering people of Ulster.

Unionists argue there can be no power sharing with Sinn Fein while its so-called military wing is continuing to take the law into its own hands.

They have a strong point.

The vast majority of law-abiding people cannot stomach the actions of an organisation that kills almost on a whim.

But the Unionists have to be prepared to put their own house in order.

They have their share of mindless thugs and political bigots - people who are determined to carry on the battles of 300 years ago.

Caught between the fanatics of both sides are the many thousands of Catholics and Protestants who want nothing more than peace in their land.

The IRA's idea of ceasefire is bizarre even by its standards.

How can it possibly expect anyone to share power with its Sinn Fein colleagues when it argues that it is all right to carry on killing those who offend it?

Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, says the IRA called a complete cessation of military operations to enhance the peace process and that in his view the ceasefire is intact.

"That's all we need to say about it," he added. Only hard-line Republicans will agree with that.

The majority of people in Ulster feel there is an awful lot more to say about it.

McGuinness's statement underlines the task faced by Mo Mowlam.

One thing is certain. A solution will have to be found soon, or the peace process will be in tatters.

And if that happens Ulster will find itself in the grip of violence and chaos, the like of which has not been seen in the last 30 years.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.