The British prime minister is to hold meetings today with the Sinn Fein and Ulster Unionist Party leaders in London as efforts to salvage the Belfast Agreement continue.
Former US senator Mr George Mitchell was back at Stormont yesterday meeting pro- and anti-agreement parties. Today he is expected to outline his format for the September review designed to break the deadlock over decommissioning and the formation of an executive.
Mr Mitchell met the UUP on Tuesday and engaged in a marathon session yesterday, meeting the SDLP, Sinn Fein, Alliance, the Progressive Unionist Party, the Ulster Democratic Party, the Women's Coalition, the DUP, the NI Unionist Party, the UK Unionist Party, and the United Unionist Assembly Party.
The talks took place ahead of meetings in London today between Mr Tony Blair and a Sinn Fein team of Mr Gerry Adams, Mr Martin McGuinness and Mr Martin Ferris, and an expected separate meeting between Mr Blair and UUP leader Mr David Trimble.
The two main parties to the crisis over arms and the formation of an executive, Sinn Fein and the UUP, appeared as deeply divided as ever yesterday.
Sir Reg Empey, a senior UUP Assembly member, stated there was no change to the nature of the dispute. "The difficulty is that as other parts of the agreement have been progressing for the last 14 months, one part of the agreement has not even begun to be implemented and that is, of course, decommissioning," he said.
He denied that unionists were seeking to delay progress until the deadline for the full implementation of the agreement in May next year. "We are dedicated to this agreement, we want it to work and to work quickly. We will approach the autumn determined to make it work," he added.
Sinn Fein vice president Mr Pat Doherty accused the UUP of not being willing to share power with republicans. Unionists were "in default of the agreement", he said. "We have to have a short-term plan. We cannot allow the review itself to become a delaying mechanism for the unionists' refusal to implement the agreement."
SDLP Assembly member Mr Mark Durkan, after his party's meeting with Mr Mitchell, called for a "more active and interactive" approach to the review. "There are lessons on how not to do things," he added, referring to "the way things were done in Hillsborough and the way things were done in the exercise behind us here (at Castle Building) a couple of weeks ago". The pro-agreement parties generally called for the September review to be tightly concentrated and time-limited.
Anti-agreement parties vowed they would not allow Mr Trimble to "cave in" to any more republican demands. Speaking after meeting Mr Mitchell, the DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said he again expected a "pressure-cooker" atmosphere when the review process began in September.
"Mr Trimble will again be put under pressure to meet the commitments that he caved in to on a previous occasion when he signed up to an agreement which allowed Sinn Fein into government," Mr Robinson said. "The unionist electorate will not allow him to deliver it this time. He may deliver something, but it is more likely to be his own head." He accused Mr Trimble of allowing the review to proceed without insisting that fundamental issues such as the release of paramilitary prisoners and the future of the RUC be also put on the agenda.
Speaking for the Northern Ireland Unionist Party, Mr Cedric Wilson called for the setting-up of a "united unionist front". He said his party would engage in talks with Mr Trimble and Dr Paisley to achieve a "unity of purpose".