As the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Fein maintain their entrenched positions over decommissioning, President Clinton waits in the background prepared to offer vital assistance to bring fresh impetus to the political process, according to one of his senior advisers.
Mr James Lyons, the president's special adviser for economic initiatives in Ireland, said in Belfast yesterday that he and Mr Clinton were hopeful the impasse over decommissioning would be resolved.
Accompanying the US ambassadors to Dublin and London on a two-day visit to Northern Ireland, Mr Lyons said if there was no movement by St Patrick's Day - seven days after the executive is due to go "live" - President Clinton would probably re-engage more directly in seeking to break the deadlock. "I would be very hopeful, and the president is very hopeful, that this process can move forward and allow this locally-elected government to take root and begin to operate as quickly as possible," he said.
But if there was no progress by St Patrick's Day, when Northern Ireland leaders will be in Washington, he was "sure the President will be prepared to do whatever he can to assist".
The US ambassador to Ireland, Mr Michael Sullivan, on his first official trip to Northern Ireland, said it was no coincidence the delegation was meeting political as well as business and community leaders.
"The peace process and the economy are deeply tied to each other, and we are hoping to do whatever we can to encourage that at all levels," he added.
The ambassador to Britain, Mr Philip Lader, said the US administration wanted to help in the implementation of the Belfast Agreement and would be "supportive in every way it can" in the economic development of Northern Ireland.
The group had a meeting at Stormont yesterday with the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble. The group met the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, in Newry, Co Down, on Wednesday night.
At Stormont yesterday, Mr Trimble resisted pressure from the UK Unionist Party leader, Mr Robert McCartney, to call off further meetings with Sinn Fein. Mr McCartney said that evidence that part of a suspected IRA arms haul on Tuesday was of 1998 manufacture - a year after the IRA cessation - indicated the IRA had broken its ceasefire.
Mr Trimble said the UUP was "obviously concerned about continuing paramilitary activity", but he would not go so far as to say he would cease contact with Sinn Fein. He again called on the IRA to start decommissioning so that he could accept Sinn Fein taking two places on the executive.
Mr John Taylor, the UUP deputy leader, said he would be prepared to accept the word of Gen John de Chastelain, chairman of the decommissioning body, that the IRA had begun disarming.
"For me, that would be sufficient because I know the general very well, and I would accept his word without any hesitation. I don't personally have to be present to see these guns destroyed. But I have to have the word of someone that I trust to confirm that decommissioning has commenced," Mr Taylor told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme yesterday.
Mr Taylor later joined party colleagues on a two-day visit to Scotland to meet politicians from other parties and to receive a report on Scotland's progress towards devolution.
Mr Mallon appealed for all sides to allow Gen de Chastelain's decommissioning body to do its job, as required under the agreement. He wanted to see arms decommissioned, but he rejected Mr McCartney's call for an end to contact with Sinn Fein. It was important to keep the political process as inclusive as possible, he said.
Mr Alex Maskey, a Sinn Fein Assembly member, said the comment from the RUC that the arms found in west Belfast belonged to the IRA proved that it was "pursuing a political agenda similar to that of Bob McCartney's with the intention of wrecking the peace process".
