Sinn Fein is at odds with both of the main parties in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP, over issues arising from the multi-party talks. There was sharp criticism of Sinn Fein's opposition to a Northern Ireland Assembly from the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, who said that Sinn Fein was "being either deliberately destructive or failing to face reality".
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, ruled out a bilateral meeting with Sinn Fein in the coming months, saying that he did not expect to meet Mr Gerry Adams before the end of the talks process in May.
Mr Adams rejected the attacks from the other parties. He said that an assembly would be divisive and accused Mr Trimble of abdicating his responsibilities by refusing to meet Sinn Fein.
The attack by Mr Hume came in an article for the Belfast Irish News. The SDLP leader said the proposed North-South ministerial council could not exist without new institutions in Northern Ireland "from which its Northern membership would be drawn".
He continued: "By suggesting otherwise, Sinn Fein is being either deliberately destructive or is failing to face reality." He was also implicitly critical of the unionist policy of seeking a non-legislative assembly in the North.
Mr Adams responded: "Our experience of unionists abusing power for 75 years reinforces us in our belief that an assembly would be divisive. The unionists have not shown any willingness to change their attitude when in positions of power."
Despite yesterday's exchanges, SDLP sources dismissed reports of a deterioration in the HumeAdams relationship on which the peace process was founded.
Rejecting a meeting with Mr Adams, Mr Trimble said: "We are in the talks, we are at the same table. If Sinn Fein have things to say, let them say them at the table in the hearing of the other parties."
It has emerged that there was a brief but unproductive exchange between Mr Trimble and Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, at the talks session in Lancaster House, London, last week. Mr McGuinness approached the UUP leader to say that a meeting between their two parties was inevitable, but Mr Trimble replied abruptly to the effect that communication could be made through the chair.
At yesterday's session of the confidence-building committee of the Stormont talks, Mr Ken Maginnis (UUP) banged the table and objected to the fact that the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, did not know the first name of a UUP delegate, Mr Dermot Nesbitt, whereas she knew the first names of Sinn Fein and SDLP delegates. Dr Mowlam explained that she had met Mr Nesbitt only once.
Mr Maginnis also complained that Dr Mowlam looked at the nationalist side of the table only during the discussions. She replied that the UUP delegates were talking among one another in what she claimed was an unmannerly fashion. Mr Maginnis, whose relationship with Dr Mowlam is volatile, stormed out of the meeting. Dr Mowlam is to meet the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and other political leaders in Dublin today.
This morning the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, is to meet nationalist residents on Belfast's Lower Ormeau Road. He will lay flowers to mark the sixth anniversary of the loyalist gun attack on Sean Graham's bookmakers, in which five people died.
A pump-action shotgun and two air-rifles were discovered by police at a derelict farm building at Bessbrook, Co Armagh, during the afternoon. Two bomb warnings at Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, proved to be hoaxes.
A man escaped unhurt last night in a gun attack in Lurgan, Co Armagh. It happened in the town's Mourneview estate, where a shot was fired at a passing car. The loyalist LVF later claimed responsibility for the shooting and warned the man that he had 24 hours to leave the area.