The Northern Ireland First Minister and UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, has warned against creating "a sense of crisis" over the impasse in decommissioning paramilitary weapons.
He said he was aware of the dangers that exist if a breakthrough is not made soon but "the dangers would be exacerbated if we create a sense of crisis. It is important to reassure people that this process is not going to collapse even if we don't get the positive responses we would like soon."
Mr Trimble was speaking here after a meeting with members of Congress who are leading figures in the Ad Hoc Committee on Ireland. He asked them to use their influence with the republican movement "to encourage the paramilitaries to respond positively so that we can make progress."
Mr Trimble, who also had a meeting in the White House with President Clinton's advisers on Northern Ireland, said he knew the administration had been encouraging the republican movement to make progress.
Asked if he was saying that President Clinton and officials had been asking the IRA to start decommissioning, Mr Trimble replied: "I'll not put words in their mouth. I know they have been encouraging people. The President has made it clear that decommissioning is part of this and has to happen and I believe he is saying that privately as well."
Asked if this meant that President Clinton was taking his view that decommissioning by the IRA had to start before Sinn Fein could take part in the executive, Mr Trimble said there was the political reality that last year the IRA had said it would not decommission and then there had been the alleged attempt to import arms from the US.
All this had "reinforced doubt as to whether they were really committed to peace, and without that confidence it is politically impossible for us to proceed."
Congressman Richard Neal said after meeting Mr Trimble that he had been talking with Sinn Fein and Senator George Mitchell and they had both said that this was "a delicate period, and everyone should be tight-lipped about how to proceed."
Mr Neal said that after Mr Mitchell has presented the results of his review next week, there might be an opportunity for President Clinton to make a personal intervention to bring both sides together.
Congressman Peter King who also attended the meeting said he had noted a "change in tone" by Mr Trimble compared to previous visits and he now believed there was no alternative to the Belfast Agreement.
In Belfast yesterday, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, said that in the final days of the Mitchell review it was absolutely essential that the pro-agreement political leaders took control of the process, writes Gerry Moriarty.
He repeated there was "still a chance" that the review would succeed but in contrast to the view of Mr Trimble that people should be patient about the timescale, Mr McGuinness said the deal should be done speedily.
"We do not have unlimited time to end the crisis in the peace process," he told reporters yesterday afternoon, after speaking by telephone to President Clinton's deputy national security adviser, Mr Jim Steinberg.