The peace process was going through its worst crisis yet, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said last night, writes Deaglan de Breadun in New York.
At a press conference in Manhattan, Mr Adams asked his audience to imagine if someone from another country had suspended the US Senate. The power of the institutions suspended in the North was not as great - "but the principle is basically the same".
Since the partition of Ireland the North had seen "50 years of apartheid, 30 years of war and eight weeks of inclusive government".
Questioned about the decommissioning deadline in the Belfast Agreement, Mr Adams said: "None of the armed groups show any indication they are going to disarm or decommission by May 22nd."
He accused the British government of "holding back" on the review of the North's judicial system.
He recalled that in the US the government had stood up to reactionary elements during the civil rights era and said the same thing had to happen in the North.
However, he could still "do business" with Mr David Trimble. "But it will have to be based on a handshake."
Although praising the efforts of the US administration, Mr Adams said: "The business will be done back in Ireland."