Last year's violence - and there are warnings of worse to come

Doubts Over Talks On Orangemen Marches

The Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam has met nationalist residents of Garvaghy Road in Portadown, where Drumcree Orangemen are due to march on July 6.

The talks ended after 40 minutes, with no sign of any emerging agreement. The Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition announced that there would be a third meeting in the coming days.

Ms Mowlam refused to speak to reporters as she emerged from the talks. Earlier she had stressed that she was determined to find some form of agreement. "We will continue to do all we can in the couple of weeks we have got left to see if we can get any kind of accommodation which is really the only way we are going to move things forward," she said. She added that the murder of two RUC officers by the IRA on Monday had spurred people to find a compromise.

Garvaghy resident's spokesman Brendan McKenna said he had made it clear that Portadown's Catholics needed a "breathing space" and called on the Orange Order to talk to "ordinary nationalist people". This would be a pre-condition for any resolution to the crisis.

Mowlam: determined to find agreement

"We continue to search for a way forward"

Leaders of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, however, have ruled out talks with residents groups. The Grand Lodge said there could be no question of having to request permission to walk on the public highway. The statement declared: "No community owns the roads of Ulster."

The statement accused Sinn Fein and the IRA of "manipulating" certain residents groups, making dialogue impossible. It said: "The responsibility rests with such a group to demonstrate that they are not being manipulated by an organisation whose clear aim is to drive Protestants out of the land and to kill them if necessary."

The statement added that the Orange Order was prepared to meet with people it regarded as committed to "peace and democracy". However, such meetings would not be held to seek permission to march, but to "ascertain what the local problems are and seek to allay the fears of the community."