President Clinton has appealed to all parties in the North "to honour the terms" of the Belfast Agreement and said he was in touch with the main leaders. However, he said: "Any public comments I make on the merits at this moment might do more harm than good."
Asked yesterday at the White House about the crisis, he said: "It would be a tragedy if it were derailed."
He said he had recently spoken to the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams. He had also spoken to the First Minister, Mr David Trimble.