Adams in call for round table talks
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams tonight urged Tony Blair to swiftly set up round table talks to save the peace process in Northern Ireland.
He called on the British prime minister to lift the suspension of the power-sharing Stormont administration and Assembly imposed on Monday.
The republican leader said the British and Irish governments needed to press forward with their commitment to "the full implementation of all aspects of the (Good Friday) Agreement that will be within their respective powers to implement."
Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid is expected to next week begin a round of bilateral meetings with the parties in a bid to find as swift as possible a way to agreement and the restoration of the political institutions in Belfast.
Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness is expected tomorrow to flesh out what his party expects of government - including action on policing, demilitarisation, equality, human rights and an amnesty for men on the run.
But as the pressure was kept up on republicans for action to salvage the peace process, Mr Adams, speaking at a republican commemoration in Lurgan, Co Armagh, said they were wrongly being singled out.
“To many people it appears that there is a tolerance within the British system of the armed actions of unionist paramilitaries. The single focus of the British Secretary of State has been on the IRA. He has chosen on a number of occasions to lecture republicans.”
But Mr Adams said: “The British government is not the referee in this process. I do believe that the British prime minister has played a positive role but now is not the time to slip into a single item agenda.
“The mistake is suspending the institutions should not be compounded.”
Meanwhile it was confirmed tonight that Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith will be the guest of honour at the annual conference of David Trimble’s Ulster Unionist Party at the weekend and will address party members
