Mr David Trimble and Mr Gerry Adams should take a gamble in order to ensure a peaceful future, one of the founding fathers of the new South Africa said today.
Mr Roelf Meyer, who was the chief negotiator for the white National Party in the peace talks with the African National Congress, was speaking at a press conference in Belfast organised by Time's Running Out, a group of leaders in business, trades unions and the voluntary sectors.
Mr Meyer said it was vital for the heads of the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Fein to lead from the front as the Mitchell review draws to a close.
If the current impasse could not be broken, he said, the North's parties should be left alone by both governments to rebuild the trust necessary to reach a mutually acceptable deal.
The major players in the negotiations should not seek to lay the blame for lack of progress at each other's doors, or with outside influences like the British, Irish and American governments.
"The parties here should not look at governments outside this territory to take responsibility. They should take the responsibility themselves to fix that agreement, implement it and make sure it works," he said.
He warned against becoming unduly pessimistic, and pointed to the long and often troubled transition to democracy in his own country as a strikingly similar example of why politicians must never give up on the peace process, even though the stalemate seems insurmountable.
Mr Mandela's decision to "kickstart" the South African talks by unilaterally declaring that the ANC's armed struggle was over, Mr Meyer said, was an example of bold and brave leadership.