Sinn Fein chief rejects call for IRA to disappear

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on Friday rejected Britain's call for the outlawed Irish Republican Army to cease all activities.

"This is not a time for ultimatums. This is not a time for deadlines. That has never worked in the past," Adams said from his power base of Roman Catholic west Belfast.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a surprise trip Thursday to Belfast to deliver what analysts considered his most important speech in four years on the Northern Ireland peace process. Blair emphasized that the key accomplishment of the 1998 peace accord -- a Catholic-Protestant administration that included Sinn Fein -- wouldn't be revived unless the IRA demonstrated a permanent commitment to peace.

Adams said supporters of his Sinn Fein-IRA movement were angered by the message.

Britain's decision earlier this week to withdraw power from the Catholic-Protestant administration was a "grievous mistake," Adams said.

The major Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, had threatened to withdraw from the coalition -- triggering its collapse -- unless Britain intervened.