president Clinton set the scene for further intensive negotiations in Belfast before travelling to London last night for the final leg of his visit.
Despite the absence of an immediate breakthrough, British government sources indicated there would be no let-up in the efforts to break the impasse in Northern Ireland's political process following the President's departure from London later today.
On the last leg of his visit to the United Kingdom and Ireland, President Clinton will this morning meet Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace before delivering a speech on globalisation at Warwick University this afternoon.
The President and his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, spent last night with the Blairs at Chequers.
Commenting on President Clinton's meetings at Stormont yesterday, a British source told The Irish Times: "He has set up the agenda for the next round of the negotiation." Asked if that negotiation would carry into the new year, the source confirmed continuing hopes of a pre-Christmas breakthrough, saying: "Let's see how things go over the next few days." Central are the key issues of Mr David Trimble's ban on Sinn Fein's participation in meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council; the continuing standoff between the British government and Sinn Fein and the SDLP over policing; and the vexed questions of demilitarisation and IRA decommissioning.
There was speculation in some unionist circles last night that the SDLP leadership might be close to endorsing the new policing dispensation in Northern Ireland. However, it seems certain that Mr Trimble will not lift his ban on Sinn Fein's participation in North-South Ministerial Council meetings without an advance on the arrangements for the inspection of a limited number of IRA arms dumps.
Meanwhile, the mystery of Mr Trimble's sudden departure from Belfast ahead of President Clinton was explained last night by official sources. While the US President ran predictably behind schedule, Northern Ireland's First Minister left on time for Palermo, Sicily, where he is attending a conference on countering organised crime.