Sinn Fein and UUP remain in deadlock on arms

Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party are due to resume negotiations at Castle Buildings, Stormont, this morning amid suggestions that Senator George Mitchell's review may be extended beyond today.

Negotiations involving Senator Mitchell and UUP and Sinn Fein leaders broke up around 11 p.m. last night with no sign of a breakthrough. Talks involving the two main protagonists, Sinn Fein and the UUP, and also the other pro-agreement parties are to reconvene at late morning today.

The mood at Stormont was decidedly downbeat throughout yesterday but some comfort was taken from the fact that late last night Mr David Trimble and Mr Gerry Adams appeared willing to prolong the talking beyond today if there is any chance of a compromise over decommissioning and devolution.

A Sinn Fein source said his best hunch was that the talks might at least run beyond the weekend. Mr Trimble's deputy in the talks, Sir Reg Empey, told BBC Radio Ulster last night that people should be "patient", again indicating that the Mitchell review may be extended.

He said it was "unpredictable" how long it might take before it would be known whether this process would end in success or failure. Asked did he expect to see a breakthrough Sir Reg replied, "The Lord alone knows."

Short of a significant moderation today of either Mr Adams's or Mr Trimble's positions on guns and government, sources believed the only hope for the review was the so-called "soft landing", which could involve Senator Mitchell outlining the progress achieved to date and the potential for progress in the immediate to short-term future.

The senator is expected to decide today whether to publish his own set of "best-guess" proposals on how to end the logjam, or whether he will permanently or temporarily withdraw from the process and leave it to the British and Irish governments to pick up the pieces.

British and Irish sources said the senator was unlikely to produce his own blueprint if he was unsure whether Sinn Fein and the UUP would accept it.

Senator Mitchell has expressed his determination to end his review this weekend. However, talks insiders indicated he might be prevailed upon to remain engaged for a short period or even return after the politicians had time for reflection.

Sources said that despite the improving relationship between Sinn Fein and the UUP, they were so far unable to devise a scheme that would end the decommissioning/devolution stalemate, with neither side suffering embarrassment or humiliation.

"Some element of trust has been built up, but that has not translated into some kind of methodology that Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists could be happy with," explained one Dublin observer.

It is understood that while Mr Trimble might have been prepared in certain circumstances to enter into an executive with Sinn Fein before some IRA decommissioning, he wanted "product" to follow almost immediately.

Sources said Sinn Fein was arguing that the time frame was proving too tight for republicans. Neither party would provide detail last night, but one Sinn Fein insider, referring to decommissioning said: "We are up against a rock, and if it is not shifted we can't move forward."

The SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, in an apparent reference to the timing of decommissioning, said the central issue in dispute "was not the type of issue upon which the entire [Belfast] agreement should founder".

He said the SDLP had made a number of compromise proposals. He warned that a "soft landing" would be characterised as failure.

Despite the mood of pessimism, British, Irish, UUP and Sinn Fein sources said some comfort should be drawn from the fact that the sides were still talking. Comparison was made with the bleak atmosphere on the eve of the signing of the Belfast Agreement.

"Negotiations go up, negotiations go down, the important thing is that the talking continues," said one British government insider.

A UUP source agreed. "Don't write this off yet, there is all to play for. This will work - eventually," he said.

Mr Trimble said on Thursday that the process would succeed "sooner or later", but Mr Adams, reflecting his party's demand for speedy movement, said "urgent progress" should be made "sooner rather than later".

"In our view we are probably at the most critical stage of any of the negotiations of any phase of the peace process," he said.