A CRUCIAL meeting will be held today between the Bogside Residents Group and the Apprentice Boys in an attempt to find a compromise on the proposed march on Derry's walls on Saturday.
Negotiations about the controversial parade are entering a critical stage as the residents' group has set Wednesday as the deadline for agreement.
Around 10,000 Apprentice Boys and 180 bands are expected to take part in the march. A repeat of the Drumcree stand off would have serious repercussions for the peace process.
Proposals exchanged between the residents and the Apprentice Boys last week will be discussed at today's meeting. The main area of contention is the inclusion of the city walls in the march route.
The residents' group wants the march to be confined to the city centre and unionist areas. It is refusing to allow the RUC to police any agreed route.
The Apprentice Boys are insisting that they parade the full circuit of the walls. They will allow screens and barbed wire to be erected along the part overlooking the Bogside and they have offered to limit the number of bands on the walls and not to play on the controversial section.
The most serious area of disagreement is the residents' insistence that there can be no accommodation on the march in Derry on Saturday unless agreement is reached on other Apprentice Boys parades planned for earlier that day in Bellaghy, Co Derry, and the lower Ormeau in Belfast.
There has so far been no dialogue between the Apprentice Boys and residents of these communities. A spokesman for the Bogside residents, Mr Donncha Mac Niallais, said: "A settlement is possible, but any agreement in Derry won't be worth the paper it's written on without agreement elsewhere.
"If there is confrontation anywhere else next Saturday, we wouldn't be able to hold people back." A public meeting would be held in the Bogside to ratify any proposed agreement or to make preparations for Saturday if none was reached, he said.
The governor of the Apprentice Boys, Mr Alistair Simpson, remained hopeful a settlement could be reached. "The situation is a lot better than it was a fortnight ago. There has to be a settlement, one way or another. There can be no deadlock," he said.
The Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, and the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, have appealed to both sides to redouble their efforts to reach an agreement. However, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the political wing of the INLA, has said any accommodation would be acquiescing in the "politics of fascism and no surrender unionism".
Dr Hegarty pleaded with both sides to find a compromise. An accommodation ensuring a peaceful march would send a positive message across the North, he said. He expressed sadness that political views had never been so polarised since the civil rights marches and that there appeared to be a hardening of sectarianism and increasing tension in the community.
Mr Adams said: "The rights of unionists must be balanced with the rights of nationalists and each must respect the rights of others."
However, the Irish Republican Socialist Party said an accommodation with the Apprentice Boys would be "acquiescing" in unionist triumphalism. "A stand must be taken. The Apprentice Boys must not be permitted this victory, said the party spokesman, Mr Ciaran McLaughlin.
The INLA carried out three gun attacks in Belfast during the week of the Drumcree stand off last month, and IRSP sources have implied that it could be considering similar action again.
Meanwhile, the SDLP MP, Mr Eddie McGrady, has called for a public enquiry into events at Drumcree. Fundamental issues such as "the acceptance of the rule of law, the acceptance of a police force and the establishment of basic human rights" must be addressed, he said.