As the political parties prepare to enter the first substantive and sustained period of negotiations on Monday, the Alliance leader, Lord Alderdice, has appealed to his Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) counterpart, Mr David Trimble, to deal face to face with Sinn Fein.
A direct meeting between Mr Trimble and the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, would be the best way of ensuring a "full dynamic" as the talks enter their most crucial phase, Lord Alderdice argued during a meeting of the Northern Forum in Belfast. "If the UUP are prepared to meet not only with the loyalist political representatives but with the loyalist prisoners themselves, they should be prepared to meet Sinn Fein representatives in the same way they meet with all the rest of us," said the Alliance leader.
Lord Alderdice said the proposed Anglo-Irish heads of agreement should have given confidence to people who feared "the break-up of Northern Ireland". He believed that with this confidence Mr Trimble was in a strong position to push forward with the talks, which needed the dynamic of truly inclusive negotiations.
"While I am not saying there would be a meeting of minds if David Trimble and Gerry Adams got together, there would be a meeting of persons, and that would be a very important development." But Mr Trimble again rejected the call for direct engagement with Sinn Fein. He described Lord Alderdice's appeal as a "diversion". The real issue for politicians was whether they were prepared to proceed into serious discussions on the details of the proposals.
Mr Trimble said he was not accepting the Anglo-Irish blueprint for the political way forward, but added that it should be the basis for future negotiations because it defined the issues that must be addressed. The UUP has engaged with Sinn Fein in the talks through the chairmen, but is not prepared to deal with the party bilaterally, Mr Trimble has consistently stated.
The UUP leader will have an opportunity today to learn of the wider unionist view of the British-Irish proposals when he meets about 50 senior party councillors from the North's 26 local authorities. The meeting is part of the UUP's consultation process and was organised before the blueprint was published, said the UUP general secretary, Mr Jim Wilson.
Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, a member of the UUP's talks team, yesterday expressed concern about the proposed North-South ministerial council in the British-Irish heads of agreement. He warned that he would have "major reservations" about any body that would have its own power and authority.
If such a council were set up it would resemble an all-Ireland government. "Our concern as unionists is very clear: if we have a freestanding, independent, NorthSouth body with its own power and authority, which is not accountable to the assembly, it is then in effect an embryonic, allIreland government," he told the BBC. The Presbyterian Church, in a statement welcoming the heads of agreement paper, hoped "it will provide an effective basis for constructive negotiations with the aim of arriving at a mutually acceptable political accommodation".
However, the Presbyterian Church and Government Committee, after its meeting yesterday, expressed concern with the increasing influence paramilitary prisoners appeared to be having on the political process.
"While some prisoners have been helpfully constructive in their support for the ceasefires and for political negotiation, it ought not to be the case that prisoners should hold the power of veto over the direction and progress of political negotiations," said the committee.
Meanwhile, two leading US congressmen with interests in Irish affairs have expressed "concern and misgivings" about the British-Irish paper. The New York Republican, Mr Peter King, and the Democratic congressman in Massachusetts, Mr Richard Neal, complained that the proposals retreated from the Framework Document by "not specifying the creation of North-South bodies with strong executive powers".
"This document clearly tilts towards the unionists and gives the impression that it was drafted to appease and mollify David Trimble," the congressmen said in a statement yesterday.
Mr King and Mr Neal said the peace process could only succeed if there were North-South bodies with strong executive powers, reform of the criminal justice system and restructuring of the RUC, and guaranteed equality of treatment for both communities.
