There was an intensification of the Mitchell review after the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, and the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, met last night at Stormont for the first time since July in an effort to break the deadlocked political process.
Mr Trimble said he still wanted to do a deal with Sinn Fein provided there was movement on IRA decommissioning, while Mr Adams said the best chance of the logjam being broken rested with the current UUP and Sinn Fein leaderships. There was no breakthrough in the impasse over the formation of an executive and decommissioning following the two-hour meeting at Castle Buildings. But both sides have agreed to hold further high-level talks.
While the relationship between Sinn Fein and the UUP has been distinctly chilly over the past eight weeks, talks sources described last night's meeting as a "reasonable engagement" between republicanism and unionism. They pointed out that the Sinn Fein and UUP delegations, under the chairmanship of Senator George Mitchell, met for two hours, about 30 minutes more than the encounter was due to last. "The meeting was businesslike", said one source, indicating that the two sides are at least willing to explore the possibility of reaching agreement.
Mr Adams and the Mid-Ulster MP, Mr Martin McGuinness, represented Sinn Fein while Mr Trimble was accompanied by UUP Assembly members, Sir Reg Empey, Mr Michael McGimpsey and Mr Danny Kennedy.
Mr Adams said he put Sinn Fein's position to the UUP "constructively and positively". He said it was too early to measure progress and further meetings would be required.
Asked if he believed Mr Trimble wanted to break the deadlock, Mr Adams replied: "The unionists will have to accept that the Sinn Fein leadership is the best bet that they have, and we will have to accept that the UUP leadership, and the other leaderships, are the best bet that we have".
Mr Trimble did not speak to the press after the meeting but before the talks he said it was "totally dishonest and untrue" for republicans to suggest that the UUP was dragging its feet on the implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
But to implement the agreement Sinn Fein and the IRA must prove that they were committed to decommissioning and exclusively peaceful means. Mr Adams is due to meet the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, today while several other bilateral meetings involving the pro-agreement parties are also planned for Stormont today, denoting Senator Mitchell's attempt to intensify the nature of his review.
