The US senior adviser for Northern Ireland, Mr Richard Haass, said yesterday he would travel to Belfast, Dublin and London next week for talks with officials on the shaky peace process.
Mr Haass said he would seek to build on recent progress and explore ways to end the sectarian violence that has plagued the North all summer.
He told a group of US and Irish officials and business people that he would be pressing all Northern Ireland leaders to do more to convince their supporters to back the five-year-old peace process. "I challenge political leaders through their words and actions to support the institutions created by the Good Friday Agreement and to underscore the message that there is no place for sectarianism, that there is no place for violence," Mr Haass said.
He also called on businesses to help cement the peace, maintaining that investment and an improved economy would ease the situations.
"Business people here today have a special responsibility as beneficiaries on the peace dividend," he said. "Their visible support is still needed today." - (AP)