The arms commissioners are back in Belfast this week with the decommissioning focus now firmly fixed on the loyalists.

General John de Chastelain, Andrew Sens and Brigadier Tauno Nieminen will spend the week in the city and are expected to meet representatives of both the UVF and UDA leaderships.

They do so with the future of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) now set within a short timeframe.

One observer said the commissioners are likely to stress in their talks with loyalists that they have "effectively no mandate" beyond February of next year when the amnesty provision of the decommissioning legislation is next due to be renewed.

"It's no longer a rubber stamp from the parliament," the source said.

For any extension to be granted the observer suggested there will have to be evidence that the dialogue with the loyalists amounts to a "meaningful engagement" and that there is proof that "tangible progress" is being made.

It is possible the IICD could be asked for a progress report.

And it could mean the UVF and the UDA having to prove their commitment to the decommissioning process within a period of months.

"It comes down to capability," one loyalist commented, "even if you want to — could you?"

The source questioned whether there is "the will on the ground" for decommissioning to happen.

The latest talks with the commission are part of a continuing and long dialogue.

The UDA is represented by a number of its inner council "brigadiers", including one of its Belfast leaders, Jackie McDonald.

Billy Hutchinson has been a long-time representative of the UVF in the talks alongside a senior member of that organisation's so-called command staff.

In statements last year the UVF said its weapons had been put "beyond reach", while the UDA said its guns were "beyond use".

Neither statement meant that decommissioning had happened.

The IICD completed its work with the IRA in September 2005 — as part of the formal ending of that organisation's armed campaign.

General de Chastelain was due in Belfast today.