Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was today accused of insulting the electorate by a former partner in the peace process.
Former nationalist SDLP leader John Hume, whose series of talks with Mr Adams between 1988 and 1994 led to the IRA ceasefire, launched a stinging attack on the Sinn Fein leader for suggesting his rivals had abandoned their initiative.
Mr Hume, whose Foyle seat is being fought over in a fierce General Election battle between SDLP leader Mark Durkan and Sinn Fein general secretary Mitchel McLaughlin, insisted his party had consistently stood for lasting peace unlike Mr Adams' party.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said: "Gerry Adams' claim that the SDLP has abandoned the Hume-Adams process is nonsense and an insult to the knowledge of the electorate.
"The reason I got involved in the talks with Adams was to secure lasting peace followed by a lasting agreement.
"The people know that the SDLP has always been a party of lasting peace, unlike Sinn Fein, and always proposed the main items of the Good Friday Agreement - power sharing and a North-South Council of Ireland.
"I have no doubt that in this election the people, in very large numbers, will stand shoulder to shoulder with the SDLP, in total support for the consistent work of the party."
PA