US behaviour partisan says Adams

[Felix the Cat]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4807916.stm

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has attacked the US administration for what he called its "partisan behaviour".

He spoke out ahead of his arrival in Washington where SF plans for a gala fundraising breakfast have been changed because of a ban on fundraising.

Mr Adams, who has been granted a visa but denied the right to fundraise in the US, took the unusual step of criticising the Bush administration.

He is invited to the White House for the St Patrick's Day celebrations.

It is the second time within recent months that Mr Adams has been denied a fundraising opportunity.

Friends of Sinn Fein have decided to proceed with their gathering involving Mr Adams, but have agreed to refund donations for the breakfast to meet Washington's restrictions.

Mr Adams also attacked the British and Irish government's handling of the peace process, describing Dublin's role as "disappointing".

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey will host a breakfast in the US capital on Wednesday.

Irish premier Bertie Ahern and Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain are also taking part in events.

The Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended in October 2003 following allegations of a republican spy ring at the Northern Ireland Office.

[Felix the Cat]

Adams criticises Bush's NI envoy (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4813758.stm)

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has strongly criticised US President George Bush's special envoy to NI.

Speaking in Washington, Mr Adams said: "I don't have high regards for Mitchell Reiss's input into this process."

"If it is he who is advising the president, it's very very bad advice," he added.

However, Mr Reiss has dismissed the criticism from the Sinn Fein president. "I reject that accusation, that allegation," he said.

Mr Adams is angry that the US government has refused him permission to fundraise, and said it was wrong to treat Sinn Fein differently.

He was speaking as he arrived at a Friends of Sinn Fein gala breakfast on Thursday.

The party has been forced to refund donations that were to be made at the event at Washington's Capitol Hilton hotel.

Mr Reiss said: "We try very hard to be an honest broker. I think if you look at the record, it demonstrates quite clearly that we don't play favourites - that we call it as we see it.

"We try to keep our eye on the main objective here - which is moving the peace process forward and keeping the focus on the people of Northern Ireland."

'Work together'

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, who is also in Washington, said the "clock is ticking" for the suspended assembly.

"There are some hard choices going to be faced by all the politicians this year because there needs to be a moment of decision made," he said.

"We can't continue with this state of political paralysis and impasse that we've had for far too long, with an assembly that hasn't met for nearly four years and with the whole cost from the taxpayer pouring in to fund that institution and its members."

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said: "The issue now is are people prepared to work together in an assembly, and work together as the Good Friday Agreement set out.

"I think we're going to find that out in the months immediately ahead."

Meanwhile, SDLP leader Mark Durkan rejected earlier Sinn Fein claims that the US government has become biased in its handling of the peace process.

Speaking in Washington, Mr Durkan said Mr Adams was wrong to criticise the Bush administration as partisan.

He said the US had been critical of unionist politicians for their stance on the violence that erupted last year over the Whiterock parade

Speaking in New York before travelling to Washington for Saint Patrick's Day this Friday, Mr Adams said he was bewildered and surprised that the US government would not allow Sinn Fein to fundraise when the IRA had put all of its weapons beyond use.

Mr Durkan said he felt Mr Reiss had "done a good job in calling things straight on the need for a lawful society".

Mr Adams' comments also took some US politicians by surprise.

[Felix the Cat]

Whither Bush's role? (http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=17835)

A worrying situation has emerged this week, where a combination of forces threatens to undermine President Bush's support for the Good Friday agreement, sabotage the work of his Special Envoy to Ireland Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, and sideline America's role in the Irish peace process.

Someone, presumably within the National Security Council, has decided that the U.S. should dispense with the idea of treating the Irish parties to the peace process with equality and respect.

Instead, the largest nationalist party in the Northern Ireland has been made the whipping boy of the Saint Patrick's Day season.

Unlike members of any other group, Sinn Féin's leaders have been issued travel visas that ban them from attending Irish-American fund-raising events for their party.

Unlike any other party, a "confrontation" has been engineered to take place inside the White House itself, with members of a family who claim, against all evidence and the word of the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, that Sinn Féin played a role in the death of Joseph "Muscles" Rafferty in the course of a feud with another family.

The motivation behind this unfair and unequal treatment is not clear. What is obvious, though, is the tacit approval of the British and Irish governments.

Britain is still trying to persuade Ian Paisley's DUP of the merits of the agreement, and believes the way to make the DUP feel good about itself is to demonize Sinn Féin.

The Irish government's role is even less honorable. Fianna Fáil now regards Sinn Fein as an electoral threat in the Republic; the Irish government will quietly support anything that harms Sinn Féin, no matter how unfair. Hindering Sinn Féin's fundraising efforts here is a bonus.

The problem is this: The North's nationalists sat at the back of the bus for too long to now tolerate anything short of equality.

There is now the possibility Sinn Féin will decline to visit the White House on Friday. The DUP has already said it wont go - ironically in case they might have to shake hands with Sinn Fein.

And if the North's two largest parties choose to stay away from the White House, where lies the U.S. role in the peace process?