TALKS between the Apprentice Boys and the Bogside Residents Group in Derry aimed at preventing another Drumcree-type crisis in the North ended in stalemate last night.
Following two hours of unresolved face-to-face negotiations, the two sides agreed to meet again today to try to settle their dispute over Saturday's planned march by the Apprentice Boys along Derry's walls.
One participant to the talks last night described the mood as "very serious". Hopes of breaking the deadlock and reaching a compromise were on a "knifeedge", he said.
The two sides are stuck on the key issues of how many Apprentice Boys should walk the walls on Saturday, and on whether any resolution of the issue should be part of an all-embracing settlement to contentious parades in general.
The Apprentice Boys of Derry have rejected any suggestion, as proposed by the Bogside group, that 13 of their members should be allowed to march along the controversial section of the city's walls overlooking the nationalist Bogside. Ten thousand Apprentice Boys are expected to march in Derry.
They have also ruled out a proposal from the Bogside Residents Group that an overall agreement on contentious parades throughout Northern Ireland should be reached during their discussions.
Mr Alistair Simpson, governor of the Apprentice Boys in Derry, last night said the Derry issue must be resolved before tackling the issue of contentious marches in general. "We have to get Derry sorted out before we can look anywhere else," he said.
He added: "The suggestion that only 13 Apprentice Boys should walk is only a suggestion. What is at stake is the principle of the Apprentice Boys having the right to walk on the walls of our city when anyone from anywhere in the world can get doing that. That's what we call our civil rights."
The Apprentice Boys wished to march about 250 members from the organisation's eight parent clubs along the walls on Saturday, Mr Simpson said. He expressed hope of an agreement.
"I base my confidence on the way the talks have gone so far. All views were expressed and we're doing all we can to reach agreement, Mr Simpson added.
Mr Donncha MacNiallais, spokesman for the Bogside grouping, said a resolution could only be achieved through "accommodation, dialogue and consent".
He added: "I do not know if we will have a deal before the parade on Saturday. At the moment we have not got an agreement and I do not know if we can actually reach an agreement before Saturday."
The two sides are meeting for the fourth time today, again under the chairmanship of the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, in his capacity as local MP. "It is quite obvious that we have not reached an agreement," he said after the meeting in the Northland Centre in Pump Street, Derry.
"We all want an agreement as soon as possible and we are working very hard to achieve one. I hope we will have one, and that's what we're looking for," he said.
Earlier, in what was being viewed as a tactical gambit to ease tensions in Derry, the RUC banned the Apprentice Boys from marching down the nationalist lower Ormeau in Belfast next Saturday morning.
By rerouting the Belfast parade the RUC was hoping to at least temporarily remove this additional obstacle from the parades dispute.
But there was also a danger that the tactic could backfire. Belfast loyalists deplored the move, while nationalists in the lower Ormeau insisted that such measures were totally unsatisfactory.
The local residents group which is linked to the Bogside Residents Group said a "comprehensive negotiated settlement" on contentious marches was required, not a "series of ad hoc security reactions".
The Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Dr James Mehaffey, last night warned of the grave dangers of both sides failing to reach an agreement in Derry.
He echoed the words of the Catholic Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, in appealing for a compromise. "I hope that whatever happens a solution will be reached. The alternative is unthinkable. So much damage has already been done, and further damage could be done which could not really he calculated at this stage," Dr Mehaffey said.
He praised the "ground-breaking" work of the Derry Apprentice Boys and the Bogside Residents Group in engaging in negotiations under the chairmanship of Mr Flume.
