The Belfast Agreement will be "in dire straits" if the devolved institutions are not restored by the first anniversary of their suspension on October 14th, Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, has warned.
During a visit to London yesterday, Mr McGuinness urged the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to call elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a matter of urgency to restore momentum to the peace process.
He also called on the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, to show "leadership" by selling the agreement more enthusiastically to the unionist community in order to counter the arguments of the DUP and "rejectionists" within his own party.
Mr McGuinness said he hoped Mr Trimble would emerge triumphant from the current power struggles in the UUP and believed Mr Jeffrey Donaldson's decision to resign the party whip meant he was unlikely ever to lead the Ulster Unionists.
However, he said that whoever led the UUP in future would have to come to terms with the fact that the Belfast Agreement was "the only show in town".
Mr McGuinness said: "The decision to postpone the elections by Tony Blair effectively disempowers the pro-agreement parties and it is absolutely vital and essential that the British Prime Minister recognises that these elections should take place in the autumn of this year.
"If we see a situation whereby the suspension of the institutions or the cancellation of the elections, which does not provide then for the establishment of an Assembly and Executive, goes past the one-year anniversary in October, I think the Good Friday agreement will be in dire straits.
"I think there is a huge responsibility on everyone here in England and in Westminster to make it clear to the British Prime Minister that these elections need to take place as a matter of urgency."
The postponement of elections had created "a dangerous power vacuum that could be filled by those who are not well-disposed to the peace process", in both the unionist and republican camps, warned Mr McGuinness.
On the republican side, these anti-agreement groups were "microscopic", he said, adding that he believed they also represented a minority of unionists.
"It is inconceivable to me that we are going to allow what is effectively a minority within our political equation to dictate the pace of events," he said.
Mr McGuinness said that even those unionists who proclaimed their support for the agreement had been "lukewarm" in their public comments about it since it was signed five years ago.
It was "not unreasonable" to expect Mr Trimble and his supporters to go out and promote the agreement enthusiastically and to tell their communities that they believed Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, to be a man of peace, he said.
He hoped and believed that Mr Trimble or someone with a similar agenda would emerge from the current in-fighting as leader.
"Whoever is leader of the UUP, we will deal with them, but more importantly, whoever is leader of the UUP will have to deal with an international treaty called the Good Friday agreement.
"We have been told by the British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach that there is going to be no renegotiation of that agreement. We have heard from the White House that their view is that the Good Friday agreement is the only show in town.
"So, whoever is leader of the party, whether it is Jeffrey Donaldson or anyone else - and I have to say that I believe it is unlikely to be Jeffrey Donaldson - will have to deal with the reality of the situation that there can be no rowing away from the type of change the Good Friday agreement heralded when it was endorsed by the people of Ireland five years ago."