The British government must commit itself to honouring outstanding aspects of the Belfast Agreement in a contract drawn up during the current multi-party talks process in Northern Ireland, according to Mr Gerry Adams.
The Sinn Féin president was speaking after a series of meetings with US congressional representatives in Washington. He said the British government must put forward "detailed, transparent and irreversible commitments" on the implementation of the accord.
"In my discussions with representatives of the Congress," he said, "I told them that no substantial progress had been achieved to date in the talks with the British and Irish governments.
"I also said if progress is to be made, the British government will have to come forward with a comprehensive, time-framed programme for implementing outstanding aspects of the Good Friday agreement.
"We talked about policing, sectarian violence and focused especially on the equality agenda. At the end of the day we need a contractual arrangement in which the British government will put forward detailed, transparent and irreversible commitments to do what they should have done some time ago."
Mr Adams met President Bush's special adviser on Northern Ireland, Mr Richard Haass. He also had talks with the new leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Ms Nancy Polosi, and with 10 congressmen and staffers of other members of the House of Representatives.
He said a congressional delegation led by the chairman of the Friends of Ireland group, Mr Jim Walsh, would visit Ireland next spring. Mr Adams also observed that Mr Haass remained "very focused" on the need to restore devolution at Stormont.
"Over the last years," Mr Adams continued, "I have had many meetings with four British Secretaries of State - Mo Mowlam, Peter Mandelson, John Reid and Paul Murphy - and they have all said the same thing in terms of demilitarisation, policing and all of the issues.
"It is obvious that they need to be pinned down when you have got British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitting in Belfast, as he did in a recent speech, that they have not implemented all their obligations under the agreement. The substantial point is that these issues are entitlements and not concessions. They are rights and I think that strikes a chord with people here in the United States."
Mr Adams was due to meet Senator Ted Kennedy in Washington later yesterday and then travel to New York to meet the state governor, Mr George Pataki. - (PA)