Haass to quiz SF over Colombia arrests

US President George W Bush’s special envoy to the North will today ask Sinn Fein to reveal all it knows about the three Irishmen charged with training rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Two of the men have past links with the IRA and Sinn Fein and Richard Haass will ask the party what the men were doing in rebel-held territory in Colombia.

The men, James Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly, have all said they were in Colombia to study the country’s peace process.

Mr Haass, who met Northern Secretary John Reid yesterday, is also due to hold private talks with all the pro-agreement parties in Belfast today.

He hopes to encourage them to find common ground on the issues of policing, demilitarisation and decommissioning before the deadline for progress runs out later this month.

Mr Haass said the trauma of the Holy Cross protests in north Belfast was deeply felt on the other side of the Atlantic.

‘‘The pictures are shown in the United States. They have an enormous impact,’’ the diplomat said.

‘‘I am the father myself of two small children. Anyone who has small children understands just how wrong it is for children of any age, of any nationality, to be caught up in politics in this way.’’

But while he admitted there had been ‘‘negative’’ developments since his last visit, Mr Haass insisted there was still hope of overcoming the current problems in the wider Peace Process.

The Anglo-Irish proposals on full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement contained the solutions required, the diplomat said.

‘‘On the table we have extraordinary proposals that I think are obviously in both parties’ interests so I think it is too early to be talking about pessimism,’’ he said.

‘‘I still think the glass is half full.’’

There was little ‘‘outsiders’’ like the British, Irish and American governments could now do, Mr Haass said.

‘‘I think the incentives have to be in the proposals themselves. The good news here is the incentives are in the proposals,’’ he continued.

‘‘So it is not so much me or anyone else coming over here to persuade the leadership of the various political parties in the North, they have to persuade themselves, they have got to be persuaded by the content of the proposals.’’

For his part, Dr Reid again urged local people involved in the Holy Cross dispute to begin talking ‘‘as soon as possible’’.

‘‘I hope that the appalling events of last week, rather than depressing politicians, act as a spark to make sure that we try to show by example that political problems can be solved by politics and by dialogue,’’ he said.

And as the deadline to resolve the current impasse neared people could not simply hope for a ‘‘miracle’’, he warned.

‘‘The Belfast Agreement was not a miracle. It was not the result of divine intervention,’’ Dr Reid said.

‘‘It was made by men and women in Northern Ireland and it is men and women in Northern Ireland who will resolve or fail to resolve the problems before the 22nd September.’’