Derry City Council is to hold a special meeting to discuss a proposal to confer the freedom of the city on the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume.
If the proposal succeeds, Mr Hume will become the first person to be honoured in this way since the council was established following the reorganisation of local government in the North in 1972. The only previous nominee for freedom of the city was Mr Nelson Mandela who was proposed for it by Sinn Fein in March 1986. However, the proposal was defeated when DUP, SDLP and Ulster Unionist councillors voted against it.
If Mr Hume is to receive the honour, he will need the support of 20 of the 30 councillors. The current make-up of the council is SDLP 14 seats, Sinn Fein eight, DUP four, UUP two and Independent Unionists two.
SDLP councillor Mr John Kerr, who has called on the council to make his party leader a freeman of the city, described Mr Hume as "a historian, statesman and native of this city". Mr Kerr said Mr Hume had "a capacity for original thought and his ethical thinking is against self-interest".
However, a former UUP mayor of Derry, Alderman Richard Dallas, said President Clinton was not made a freeman of the city during his presidential visit four years ago when Mr Kerr was the sitting mayor. "Many other people like Dana and Phil Coulter have made important contributions to the life of this city," he said.
Alderman Gregory Campbell of the DUP said he was against conferring the title on Mr Hume.