It was met with rejection by Protestant Unionists, who want to retain the British presence in Northern Ireland, and a lukewarm response from the paramilitary IRA's political wing Sinn Fein.

Afterwards, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern claimed real progress had been made in accepting the principles underpinning their plan.

But the principles had never been in doubt. It is the timing of the concessions asked of the Unionists and Sinn Fein that remains an obstacle to lasting peace, with neither side wanting to give way first. They have until Blair's ``absolute deadline'' ofmidnight Wednesday to agree a deal to resurrect last year's Good Friday accord, or see 14 months of peace since then threatened by a return to violence. The deadlock is because Unionists refuse to set up a government with Sinn Fein, which is opposed to British rule, until paramilitaries, notably in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) start to give up their weapons.

After the talks, Blair sought to play down the deadlock, saying all parties were agreed on the basics. The principles include the ``decommissioning of all paramilitary weapons by May 2000'' to a timetable determined by an independent supervisory body, and a power-sharing devolved government. ``This is welcome progress,'' Blair said. But he also made an admission: ``There are still fundamental issues about sequencing and timing that have to be resolved.''

And that is the crux of the issue. Moreover, Unionists have hardened their ``no Guns, no government'' position by restoring hardliner Jeffrey Donaldson to their negotiating team.

Donaldson, whovoted against last year's accord because he perceived it as too soft on terrorist weapons, rejected the latest plan as ``unacceptable''. Sinn Fein, for its part, gave a cautious response, neither endorsing nor rejecting it.

Blair's plan calls on Unionists to let Sinn Fein into government in return for a ``clear guarantee'' that the IRA would decommission all its weapons by May 2000. The executive would collapse if paramilitaries reneged on the time-table to disarmament. By demanding that Sinn Fein guarantee decommissioning, the proposal goes beyond Good Friday, under which the party only had to use whatever influence it could to bring it about. Sinn Fein insists it cannot answer for the IRA, but Blair, setting out his plan in Friday's Times, rejected that notion.

``No one will believe that a party with a close connection to a paramilitary group could not bring about decommissioning,'' he said. Equally, he told Unionists there had to be ``acceptance that there must be an inclusive executive''.

What Blairand Ahern did in their talks on Friday was, in the words of one negotiator, to ``get the planks of certainty together, nail them together and start next week building the platform''. The two premiers return to Belfast on Monday.

In Washington, meanwhile, Bill Clinton urged all sides to save the Good Friday accord. What was hammered out in April last year, he said, ``were good when the people voted for them, they're good today, and the differences, though they are profound, are as nothing compared to the cost of losing it.''