THE SDLP leader, Mr John Home, has called for an early British general election, accusing Mr John Major's government of being afraid to take decisions on the Northern Ireland peace process.
"Quite clearly the present British government is unable to take any major decisions on any subject," Mr Hume told The Irish Times yesterday, adding that an election should be "called as soon as possible".
Mr Hume said: "I have no doubt that if there was a strong government in Westminster the peace process would be back on the rails very, very quickly and lives would be saved." A British general election must be held before the end of May.
Mr Hume's comments follow a statement last Monday by the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, that it would be "difficult to sustain any serious talks process" until after Westminster elections.
Mr Hume said yesterday: "When you have a government that can't take decisions then that's bad for everybody, not just the people of Northern Ireland."
He said bringing peace to Northern Ireland was the most serious human problem facing the British government. Yet "it would appear that they are not taking decisions because of a fear of causing an election sooner than they want."
Mr Hume also called on the IRA to declare an immediate ceasefire. Despite the British government's indecision, he said, "I would make a direct appeal to the IRA to lay down their arms completely, because they know that that is the wish of the mass of the Irish people."
The Northern Ireland talks will resume on January 13th with bilateral meetings between the parties and the talks chairmanship, headed by Senator George Mitchell.
These meetings will once again attempt to break the log-jam over the decommissioning of paramilitary arms before a plenary session on January 27th. The three-man chairmanship has indicated that it may put forward its own proposed solution to the decommissioning problem if unanimity is not reached next month.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said that neither he nor Mr Hume had given up trying to find a way forward for the peace process. He appealed for all sides to exercise restraint and not become embroiled in a spiral of violence. "I'm asking everyone to draw breath," he said.
Despite warnings that the IRA could carry out attacks against the British army or RUC during the holiday period, the paramilitary group remained inactive.
Prison officers were told to tighten their personal security following a bomb alert on Christmas Eve. In a coded message, the IRA claimed to have left a bomb under a prison officer's car outside a social club at the Maze prison, Co Antrim. But nothing was found in an extensive search.
Republican sources in west Belfast, however, said the IRA's inactivity over Christmas did not signify a de-facto ceasefire. They warned that the Provisionals could launch attacks in the run-up to the new year.
"The IRA is anxious to show that it will still be a force to be reckoned with in 1997. I most definitely would not rule out an attack in the next week," one source said.