Sinn Fein does not expect the White House to support its aim of a united Ireland in the peace negotiations, but hopes the US will back any future agreement based on the right of the Irish people to "national self-determination", Mr Gerry Adams said here at the start of his visit. The Sinn Fein leader told a press conference he would be telling the White House in detail of the party's views on the peace talks due to begin next week but "we don't expect the White House to take up a position around any particular party".
It would be looking for "balance from the White House and a measured approach". It would be putting the case that a united Ireland would be achievable sooner than the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, had indicated in a recent visit to Belfast.
Mr Adams, who was accompanied by the leader of the Sinn Fein negotiating team, Mr Martin McGuinness, and by Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain TD, met President Clinton's National Security Adviser, Mr Sandy Berger, at the White House last night. Mr Adams denied he was being snubbed by the President, who is still on holidays on Martha's Vineyard.
Following the meeting, Mr Berger stressed the importance of the IRA maintaining its ceasefire. He also expressed his appreciation for the decision to call a ceasefire, a spokeswoman said.
Mr Adams described the hour-long meeting as a "very positive and constructive engagement." He thanked Mr Berger for the commitment of the US administration to the search for peace in Ireland and commended President Clinton's "on-going efforts to assist that search."
Mr Adams said he was "very encouraged by the meeting" and he was "assured that the continuing interest of the White House and President Clinton was to assist, encourage and facilitate the search for lasting peace in Ireland".
Asked if the US had made it clear that it would stay neutral in the negotiations, Mr Adams said: "The mark of this administration has been to be even-handed and balanced. We ask no more from them than the continuation of that even-handed and balanced approach."
Decommissioning of weapons was discussed at the meeting, but Mr Adams refused to comment on a report that the US has been asked to nominate a member of the new commission being set up to tackle this issue during the all-party talks.
Earlier, in his wide-ranging press conference comments, Mr Adams said Sinn Fein wants the unionist parties in the negotiations. His view was that the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, would be at the negotiations. He also wanted to see the Rev Ian Paisley of the DUP there but "that is their choice".
Mr Adams said his party would be ready to accept compromises to ensure a successful result but insisted the other parties would also have to make concessions. Sinn Fein would abide by whatever was agreed in the negotiations but "don't expect us to lower our expectations or in any way dilute or diminish our very legitimate goals before we go into negotiations".
He was asked about an article in the Washington Post this week by the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, in which she said: "The key question now for Sinn Fein is whether it is prepared to accept an outcome arrived at through negotiations and consent even if the agreement falls short of its ideals." Mr Adams said the position of the Irish and British governments was that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".
He went on: "Let us go in with a view to getting agreement on everything and let us not define consent as some mathematical pseudonym for a veto or based on some mathematical or geographical equation."
Asked about the possibility of a relapse into violence if the negotiations were not going well for Sinn Fein, Mr Adams said the party was not the IRA but he expected that there would be a "complete cessation of military operations" as the IRA had announced.
He then held up a map entitled "The British military garrison in Ireland" showing army installations in Northern Ireland. He said
the situation, as he was flying to the US, was still the same as shown on the map.
Mr Adams refused to say how much money Sinn Fein hoped to raise during his five-day visit. The main fund-raising event would be in New York today but he could not say at this stage how much it would bring in. But this would be clear when accounts were published. The Sinn Fein group also had meetings yesterday with the Secretary of Commerce, Mr William Daley; and Senators Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd and Alfonse D'Amato.