Say yes, Adams tells Sinn Fein
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams speaks to the media beside a mural of former Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands in west Belfast. (Peter Morrison, AP)
Catholic leader Gerry Adams advised his Sinn Fein party on Monday to accept British-Irish proposals aimed at relaunching power-sharing between rival Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.
In his most explicit backing yet for London and Dublin''s initiative, Adams told senior party figures in Belfast they "can say yes to the political package as now presented".
However, a Sinn Fein statement released after the meeting said the issue of disarming the Irish Republican Army (IRA) - Northern Ireland''s main Catholic paramilitary group - had not been discussed.
Ian Paisley, the leader of the hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has vowed not to work directly with Sinn Fein, the IRA''s political wing, until the paramilitary group visibly disarms.
Hours earlier he insisted that the IRA prove its disarmament before he agrees to the British-Irish deal.
"There is no giving in" on demanding that the Catholic paramilitary group provides photographs of decommissioning, he said after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.
Three decades of inter-community bloodshed between Northern Ireland''s Protestants, who want to remain part of Britain, and Catholics, who favour a united Ireland, largely ended with the historic 1998 Good Friday agreement.
However, a semi-autonomous, power-sharing government set up under the treaty was suspended in October 2002 amid a breakdown in mutual confidence because of allegations of espionage by the IRA.
Adams''s statement now puts the ball firmly back in the court of Paisley who said earlier on Monday that the two sides in the Northern Ireland conflict "were never as near" to a permanent settlement.
Sinn Fein said that the issue of IRA weapons was not discussed during Monday''s meeting, but added: "Sinn Fein believes that it can be resolved to the satisfaction of all reasonable people."
London and Dublin are reportedly expecting Paisley and Adams to give their answers to the new offer on Wednesday.
However, Paisley dismissed the deadlines, saying: "You (reporters) think it''s a deadline ... It will come when it comes."
When asked if the current offer was the best opportunity for a deal, Paisley said: "We were never as near to a settlement. The people (on both sides) are with us, there is a movement that way," Paisley said.
Adams is due to hold a press conference in Belfast on Tuesday, explaining his party''s position on the blueprint to revive power-sharing.
His recommendation to Sinn Fein to accept the latest peace deal came after a second meeting between his party and Northern Ireland''s top policeman, Chief Constable Hugh Orde, at Downing Street.
Last week Adams held a groundbreaking meeting with Orde, which they said also focused on the need to accelerate British troop reduction in Northern Ireland and the scaling down of military installations.
