The US administration needs to encourage the British and Irish governments to quickly resolve the political vacuum in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams argued today.
As he prepared to leave Belfast for a five-day tour of the United States and Canada, the west Belfast MP said he hoped the Americans could help prevent the suspension of devolution in Northern Ireland becoming protracted.
Mr Adams - who will visit Washington, New York, New Jersey, Montreal and Toronto and meet President Bush's adviser on Northern Ireland, Mr Richard Haass - said: "We will be saying that the vacuum which has been created should not be allowed to be protracted.
"The vacuum is there because the anchor of the political institutions had been removed. That was a mistake and having accepted that, we now have to rectify that mistake".
Former Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid suspended devolution and reimposed direct rule of Northern Ireland from Westminster last month in a bid to prevent the collapse of the Belfast Agreement.
At a 40-minute meeting yesterday in Stormont, Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble told Mr Adams that republicans needed to spell out how they would complete the transition from paramilitarism to pursuing politics exclusively.
The former Northern Ireland First Minister also turned down a suggestion from Mr Adams that they should address each other's party executives in a bid to repair the strained relationship and any misunderstanding between their two parties.
The Sinn Féin leader noted that the Clinton and Bush administrations had in recent years played the role of encouraging the British and Irish Governments to make progress in the peace process. He said: "Do they need to encourage the two Governments now? Yes, big time".
PA