2001: Setback for NI peace process
The IRA has said it is withdrawing a proposal it made last week on putting its weapons beyond use.
In a statement the organisation blamed "the outright rejection" by the Ulster Unionists of the proposal.
It is unclear whether the IRA now intends to remain in contact with the body set up to oversee decommissioning.
A Unionist spokesman said the latest IRA move showed it was not interested in peace.
The IRA's statement comes after a one-day suspension of the assembly last weekend by Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid.
The suspension was intended to give the parties more time to resolve outstanding issues in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 including disarmament and policing.
A spokesman for the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, Mitchell McLaughlin said the suspension had precipitated the IRA's withdrawal of its arms proposal.
But republicans had not disengaged from the peace process, he added.
"I believe we will resolve these problems through the democratic process and that we will emerge with a democratic settlement," Mr McLaughlin said.
He called on the government to give republicans some positive political developments to respond to, rather than the negative signal sent by the suspension.
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