http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1150146,00.htmlPress Association
Tuesday February 17, 2004
Senator John Kerry has castigated the US president, George Bush, for pushing the Northern Ireland peace process down the White House's foreign policy agenda, it emerged today.
Mr Kerry - the frontrunner to win the Democratic nomination to fight Mr Bush in November's presidential elections - also criticised Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists for "refusing to form a government with Sinn Fein".
The senator, who has already won 14 of his party's 16 state primaries and is expected to win another in Wisconsin tonight, accused the Bush administration of failing to build on Bill Clinton's efforts to promote the peace process.
He outlined his views in a comprehensive statement on the process that has been circulated to Irish-American groups over recent weeks.
In the statement, Mr Kerry urged the IRA and loyalists to get rid of their weapons and bring an end to all paramilitary activity. A statement from the Massachusetts senator's campaign team said: "John Kerry will put the Northern Ireland peace process high on America's foreign policy agenda.