Sinn Fein Says No Decision Made on Northern Ireland PlanSinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), said on Friday it has not yet made a decision on whether to accept the British and Irish governments' package of proposals to save the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.The party's president Gerry Adams said Sinn Fein could not give a definitive response to the document because they had not yet received the details of the governments' proposals. He was speaking on Friday after the party's executive met in a hotel in Castle Bellingham in the Irish Republic, not far from the border with Northern Ireland to consider the package. The other pro-Agreement parties have held separate meetings with Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid in Belfast to discuss the "non-negotiable" package. The package was published on Wednesday, and the parties have been given until Monday to respond to it. The package covered all of the four outstanding issues threatening the political process -- policing, normalization, stability of institutions and disarmament. Adams said Sinn Fein wanted to see details of the governments' proposals on the issue of the review of the criminal justice system and on demilitarization. The Ulster Unionists and the Alliance Party met Reid on Friday morning to hear about the detailed plan on policing. If the parties fail to find a resolution by August 12, the British government will have to either suspend the assembly or call an assembly election. |
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