President Clinton and Senator Edward Kennedy have condemned the recent sectarian killings in Northern Ireland and appealed for the peace negotiations to be given a chance.
The White House spokesman, Mr Mike McCurry, said that the President "condemns those acts of violence and every attack on the peace process as, fundamentally, an attack on the people of Northern Ireland".
The President "calls on all the people in Northern Ireland to reject violence and to deny support for those who practise it". He said that "now is not the time to surrender to a very tiny extremist minority opposed to peace and democracy".
On the Sinn Fein/IRA opposition to the proposed Heads of Agreement Document, President Clinton pointed out it was "jointly developed by the Irish and British governments" and that it ought to be used by the parties to help them develop a dialogue. This should lead to "a content and shape for a peace which would mean so much for the people of all Ireland".
Senator Kennedy condemned the continuing murders of Catholics by loyalists as "cynically calculated to bait the IRA into breaking the ceasefire. I appeal to the IRA not to play into the hands of the enemies of peace".
The senator also called on the British government to bring swiftly to justice all those responsible for the killings.