THE Northern Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam, facing her first major crisis in office, has appealed to Orangemen and nationalists to "pull hack from the brink" and compromise over the looming confrontation in Portadown.
Dr Mowlam is to seek further talks with both sides this week despite the failure of her "proximity talks" initiative on Friday.
Secret talks have already begun with Northern Ireland Office officials meeting the dissident Orange group, Spirit of Drumcree, late last week. There has also been an unusual initiative in which former leading IRA member and convicted murderer, Mr Sean O'Callaghan, and two senior British Conservative politicians reportedly negotiated with the Orange Order.
There was no sign of any breakthrough over the weekend. However, an Orange demonstration along the Springfield Road in west Belfast on Saturday evening, which had the potential to build into a confrontation, passed off peacefully.
Orange demonstrations to commemorate the Battle of the Somme passed off peacefully in Belfast and Derry yesterday after noon. The Belfast march, from Ballynafeigh Orange Hall in south Belfast, was rerouted from the Catholic enclave in the Lower Ormeau Road by agreement and passed off without incident.
In Belfast, signs of intimidation and growing sectarian tension are emerging. An unknown number of Catholics who have been living in the Donegall Road area of southwest Belfast are reported to have left their homes following the plastering of intimidatory posters on walls in the area. Leaflets are being distributed in Protestant working class areas advising people to stock up on canned food and candles, a clear intimation that loyalists may seek a rerun of the 1974 loyalist strike, when power stations were closed.
In anticipation of widespread disruption along the lines of last year's five day loyalist blockade, many people have chosen to take their holidays from this weekend and leave the North.
Additional British troops are on standby to move into the North at the weekend if widespread disorder erupts. Unusually heavy air traffic was noticeable around the air force base beside the civil airport at Aldergrove, west of Belfast, during the weekend.
In an appeal for restraint and compromise, published yesterday in the Belfast newspaper Sunday Life, Dr Mowlam called for renewed dialogue, saying some people seemed determined to push Northern Ireland to the brink. "We will all pay a very heavy price if they are allowed to succeed", she said.
Dr Mowlam reiterated that she intends to introduce legislation to control demonstrations on the basis of recommendations from the report of the Commission on Parades and Public Order, chaired by Dr Peter North.
She said: "I know that many in the royal orders see the North recommendations as a threat to their freedom to parade peacefully. In a parallel way, many nationalists lack confidence that the current arrangements adequately take into account their concern about the true impact of parades on local communities.
"We are determined, in introducing our proposals, to take into account the fears and sensitivities which these issues arouse on all sides. Our proposals will be subject to the fullest possible scrutiny by parliament.
"We shall be ensuring that, when legislation is introduced later this year, it will benefit fully from the experience of this marching season, and the views of all those involved, to achieve any enhancements which are possible to the new measures.
"We are genuinely open to serious proposals for enhancing the chances of local accommodation and the workability of new arrangements. That is the way ahead for the future. For now, I am committed to doing everything I can to ensure that we don't witness a repeat of the appalling events of last year. I am determined to see the rule of law upheld in Northern Ireland."
Dr Mowlam will announce later this week whether or not the Orangemen will be allowed to march along the predominantly Catholic Garvaghy Road in Portadown next Sunday. Any attempt by the security forces to reroute the parade is likely to lead to loyalist resistance and widespread disruption similar to last year.
During the next few days Dr Mowlam is expected to hold further meetings with the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Residents' Coalition, which is implacably opposed to the march.