Mr David Trimble's Ulster Unionists (UUP) are encouraging a new loyalist paramilitary killing spree by threatening the North's power-sharing government, Mr Gerry Adams claimed today.
Mr Adams also urged the British government not to suspend the North's devolved political institutions if the UUP quits the Stormont cabinet in the New Year.
Mr Trimble has set Sinn Féin a January 18th deadline to provide guarantees that the IRA will disband or else his ministers will walk out of the executive. But with Loyalist paramilitaries behind a spate of sectarian shootings in Belfast, Mr Adams warned the Unionists' actions could provoke further murders.
He said: "Those soberly suited people in the UUP are encouraging sectarian killings."
The Ulster Unionists have already vowed to boycott all cross border ministerial meetings involving Sinn Féin.
SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan and Mr Adams were to meet today at Stormont to discuss the Ulster Unionists' threat to pull down power-sharing institutions next year.
The meeting is part of a series organised by Deputy First Minister Mr Durkan with pro-Belfast Agreement parties to find a way forward in the political crisis facing Northern Ireland.
Mr Durkan is also planning meetings with the cross-community Alliance Party, the Women's Coalition and the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party.