The heavily-policed Garvaghy Road march on Sunday

Mowlam Fails to Calm Nationalist Anger

She has had meetings with members of the mainly nationalist SDLP who are furious about the document, which appears to show that the Government had made up its mind that the Drumcree March should go ahead even before local negotiations -- the so-called proximity talks -- had taken place.

Dr Mowlam said that the document was only one of many options discussed, and she had never endorsed it. Several documents were drawn up following internal meetings in advance of the proximity talks.

She even suggested that the civil servant who drew up the document had misinterpreted what he had heard. She has ordered an inquiry into the leaking of the secret document. "An inquiry into the leaked document has been instigated by the Permanent Under Secretary of the Northern Ireland Office, Sir John Chilcott, and arrangements to set up the inquiry are already in hand," she said in a statement.

But nationalists were unconvinced by her explanations. Brid Rogers, a Portadown SDLP representative, said Dr Mowlam had a mountain to climb to gain back nationalist trust. "We simply do not believe anything we hear anymore," she said.

Hume: wants urgent meeting with Blair

John Hume: strange decision.......

The SDLP leader, John Hume, has requested an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the document and the aftermath of Drumcree. After talks with the Secretary of State, Mr Hume said he had been in touch with the Prime Minister's office and expected a meeting with him within the next few days.

He said the situation Northern Ireland needed to be addressed at the highest level: "We hope they take the necessary steps and actions to ensure we have peace on our streets,"

Mr Hume's deputy, Seamus Mallon, said the meeting had been brusque. "The issue is that a formal decision was made on the basis of who had the biggest muscle," he said. "That's certainly not the basis on which any government should be making a decision."

Mr Hume, who met the Secretary of State with other politicians at the resumed multi-party talks in Belfast, asked for the marching season to be voluntarily suspended.

Mo Mowlam: negotiated "in good faith"

Interview with BBC Ireland Correspondent, Mark Devenport [Dur: 3'30"]

In a BBC interview, the Secretary of State said the whole issue was "a lot of nonsense". She said the consensus had been that what was needed was an accommodation - an agreement between the two sides.

She spent days and days trying to negotiate that, but eventually had to hand the matter over to the RUC Chief Constable.

He poured police and troops into Garvaghy Road and the march went through on Sunday - to be followed by two nights of rioting in nationalist areas across Northern Ireland.

Dr Mowlam denied that the negotiations had been a sham. "We acted in good faith," she said. She understood that nationalists were feeling frustrated because they felt they had lost out.

She was still trying to get agreement about another annual Orange parade with a history of violence: along the lower Ormeau Road in Belfast, due to take place on Saturday.

Trouble is brewing also over another big Orange Order march in Londonderry. That march, taking place next weekend for the first time for five years, is from the mainly Protestant Waterside area to the city centre. Thousands are expected to take part and there have been calls from nationalists for it to be rerouted.

Tony Blair, speaking from the NATO summit in Madrid said: "I have absolutely no doubt that everybody in Northern Ireland and in Britain is appalled at the violence that has broken out and wants to see this process moved forward - and we are going to move it forward, I can tell you that."

He went on: "I have equally no doubt at all that Mo Mowlam took the right decision in the interests of public safety and we have got to focus on the broader political settlement because that is a process that should still go on and, so far as the Government is concerned, we are going to carry on to find a way through."