THE Sinn Fein president said yesterday that the onus was on the British and Irish governments, at the end of this month, to take the initiatives necessary to allow the reconstruction of a "new and meaningful peace process
Mr Gerry Adams said that the two governments must open up the potential for change on all sorts of matters. "There has been no confidence whatsoever in the multilateral talks up at Stormont and clearly we need to build a meaningful peace process in which there can be real talks, inclusive talks," he said.
The lesson of this month had been that dialogue could work, Mr Adams said. The unionist leaderships needed to accept that they should be seeking accommodation, not domination, and the two governments must apply themselves in a pro-active way to bringing about equality of treatment.
Mr Adams commended the residents of Bellaghy for the "dignified and disciplined way in which they dealt with a very difficult situation."
He also commended the observers from peace groups, human rights organisations and from the Republic who had attended the marches in Derry and elsewhere. He added: "And of course the Apprentice Boys in Derry deserve praise for engaging in dialogue with the Bogside residents."
It was apparent that the problem of contentious parades had not yet been resolved, he said. "It also appears we may still have a long way to go before all the loyal institutions accept that they must seek the consent of host communities for their marches."
He pointed out that further Royal Black Institution demonstrations are due at the end of this month and said that negotiations should begin now in regard to these. "I think the British government, in particular, must be pro-active in upholding the rights of host communities," he commented.
"Sinn Fein, as I have said on numerous occasions, upholds the right of the loyal institutions to march, but the days of loyal institutions marching, over people are numbered.
"I think for many people the Garvaghy Road march was a march too far. I think also if the loyal institutions are looking for someone to blame for their dilemma they should look no further than David Trimble and Ian Paisley," he said.
Asked if Sinn Fein now accepted the concept of the consent of the unionist people being necessary for political and constitutional change, Mr Adams replied: "We have always said that we want, and we acknowledge, and, we seek the consent of all sections of our people. What we don't accept is that any party should have a veto, and we need to be careful, that this word `consent' is not used as a euphemism for a veto."