Northern Ireland’s First Minister, David Trimble, tonight accused Gerry Adams of cowardice as the row over weapons decommissioning intensified. Mr. Trimble told the Sinn Féin President to stop patronising the Unionist electorate and to deliver IRA decommissioning.
The Northern Secretary says she's determined to keep to the deadline of the end of June for forming a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland. A Downing Street spokesman said that, now the European elections were over and Kosovo was entering a different stage, the British Prime Minister would be devoting more time to Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, has accused victims' groups and peace organisations of remaining silent about the recent series of attacks carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries. The Mid-Ulster MP said that the Nationalist and Catholic community had endured a sustained campaign of murder and intimidation since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
